University of Alabama Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

UAB's Division of Plastic Surgery is a small (two residents/year), academic, independent three-year program embedded in the largest academic medical center in Alabama, offering high case volume across four distinct clinical sites - UAB Hospital (the state's only Level 1 trauma center), UAB Hospital-Highlands (elective aesthetic/body contouring), Children's of Alabama (craniofacial and cleft care, ~50 primary cleft procedures/year), and the Birmingham VA (oncologic and hand/microvascular reconstruction). The program emphasizes complex reconstructive problem-solving in collaboration with orthopaedics, acute care surgery, and head/neck oncology, spanning trauma, burn, congenital, oncologic, and post-bariatric deformities. Research infrastructure is robust and surgeon-scientist oriented, with dedicated anatomical/cadaveric labs, a Microvascular Laboratory, wound-healing basic science, and collaboration with departmental centers, though the program explicitly trains for both private and academic clinical practice rather than mandating a research career. The program favors applicants who have completed full general surgery residency training prior to matching, reflecting a preference for surgically mature candidates entering independent-track plastics training.