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Samir Mardini, M.D.

  1. Facial Plastic Surgeon
  2. Plastic Surgeon
  3. Chair, Plastic Surgery

Location

  1. Rochester, Minnesota

Languages

English

Dr. Mardini is a plastic surgeon and global leader in the field of craniofacial surgery and facial paralysis and reanimation surgery in children and adults. Dr. Mardini was a major contributor to forming Mayo Clinic's groundbreaking face transplant program, and he led his team to perform Mayo Clinic's first-ever face transplant successfully. This groundbreaking procedure gave a new life to a patient whose facial disfigurement destroyed his face and his life. As the Chair of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Mardini tirelessly works to support and lead his team of fourteen plastic surgeons and hundreds of providers and Allied Health staff to exceptionally care for patients, innovate, and educate. He spent years traveling around the world, developing his knowledge, skills, and expertise to help people of all ages regain confidence and improved function after suffering from facial paralysis, disfigurement, or deformities. His practice focuses on the whole person, and he regularly collaborates with physicians across specialties to provide holistic, respectful, and attentive care to their individual health needs and aesthetic preferences.

Dr. Mardini completed his plastic surgery residency at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, followed by a one-year craniofacial fellowship and a two-year reconstructive microsurgery fellowship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan. He then spent two more years as an academic surgeon in Taiwan before joining the Plastic Surgery division at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Mardini's passion for helping others and extensive background and training at leading centers around the world reflect his relentless spirit of collaboration, knowledge-seeking, and mastery. His specialty in craniofacial surgery in children and adults includes helping those needing cleft lip and palate repair and those with craniosynostosis, vascular malformations, jaw malformations, congenital nevi, and facial injuries. He has a particular passion for improving the lives of patients with facial paralysis and synkinesis. He spent years perfecting his techniques in facial aesthetic surgery to restore function, symmetry, and a natural aesthetic appearance for people with facial deformities and facial paralysis.

Dr. Mardini is leading innovative breakthroughs in research centered around the facial nerve, facial allotransplantation, facial anatomy, regenerative medicine, cleft and craniofacial diseases, 3D imaging, and virtual surgery planning. As an active teacher and mentor, he has edited six peer-reviewed journals, published over one hundred and ninety peer-reviewed articles, over thirty book chapters, and four books, including a children's book on facial differences. Dr. Mardini was the Program Director for the Plastic Surgery Residency for eight years before assuming the role of Chair, and during that time, established the first Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency, which successfully advances four resident graduates per year. He has won Teacher of the Year for Plastic Surgery two years in a row and Teacher of the Year for Surgery and Surgical Sub-Specialties at the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education.

Dr. Mardini is grateful for his participation in over thirty volunteer mission trips worldwide, helping children in need. During these trips, he and his team performed surgery for over 700 patients with cleft and craniofacial deformities and other facial differences.

  1. Bell's palsy
  2. Brachial plexus injury
  3. Cleft lip
  4. Cleft palate
  5. Craniosynostosis
  6. Facial deformity
  7. Facial fracture
  8. Facial injury
  9. Facial nerve disorder
  10. Facial paralysis
  11. Facial weakness
  12. Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome
  13. Orbital fracture
  14. Traumatic injury
  1. Blepharoplasty
  2. Botox injection
  3. Brow lift
  4. Chest surgery
  5. Cleft lip repair
  6. Cleft palate repair
  7. Cosmetic surgery
  8. Craniofacial implantation
  9. Craniofacial surgery
  10. Face lift
  11. Face transplant
  12. Facial filler injection
  13. Facial fracture repair
  14. Facial implant surgery
  15. Facial reanimation surgery
  16. Facial reconstruction
  17. Flap surgery
  18. Muscle transfer
  19. Otoplasty
  20. Rhinoplasty
  21. Wound care
  • Aesthetic surgery of the face and body
  • Craniofacial surgery for children and adults
  • Cleft lip and palate surgery
  • Facial reanimation
  • Facial plastic surgery
  • Facial trauma
  • Functional muscle transfers for brachial plexus injuries
  • Head and neck reconstruction
  • Orbital reconstruction
  • Perforator flap surgery
  • Reconstruction of finger amputations using microvascular transfer of toe flaps
  • Reconstruction of complex wounds
  • Reconstruction of the breast, abdominal and chest walls, esophagus, head and neck
  1. 2004
    Fellow - Craniomaxillofacial SurgeryDepartment of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
  2. 2001
    Chief Resident - Plastic SurgeryGeorgetown University Medical Center
  3. 2000
    Resident - Plastic SurgeryGeorgetown University Medical Center
  4. 1998
    Resident - General SurgeryGeorgetown University Medical Center
  5. 1996
    Internship - General SurgeryGeorgetown University Medical Center
  6. 1995
    MDMedical College of Virginia
  7. 1990
    BS - BiologyGeorge Washington University

Certifications

  1. 2008
    Plastic SurgeryAmerican Board of Plastic Surgery

Awards and honors

  1. 2024
    William ReMine Lectureship Award for the Priestley Society Priestley Society
  2. 2016
    2016 EndowmentEndowment for Education Research Award (EERA) Review Committee, Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science (OASES), Mayo Clinic
  3. 2011
    Godina Traveling Fellowship AwardAmerican Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery
  4. 2011
    Ahmad M. Obaid Honored Scholar in Reconstructive SurgeryReconstructive and Transplant Surgery Center
  5. 2006
    Award of Excellence in Teaching and Clinical Practice, Department of SurgeryE-Da University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
  6. 2004
    Certificate of Appreciation for “Valuable Contributions to the Biological Research ServiceDepartment of Clinical Investigation, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, United States Army
  7. 2003
    Best Junior Clinical Paper Presentation AwardAmerican Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, Annual Meeting, Hawaii
  8. 1994
    Student Research Fellowship RecipientInternational Society for Cardiovascular Surgery

Professional memberships

  1. 2024 - present
    MemberAesthetic Multispecialty Society
  2. 2023 - present
    MemberInstitutional Human Cadaveric Use Committee
  3. 2019 - present
    Council MemberWorld Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  4. 2018 - present
    Nominations CommitteeAmerican Society for Reconstructive Transplantation
  5. 2017 - 2019
    MemberWorld Society For Reconstructive Microsurgery
  6. 2017 - present
    MemberAmerican Cleft-Palate-Craniofacial Association
  7. 2016 - present
    MemberAmerican Society for Reconstructive Transplantation (ASRT)
  8. 2016 - present
    Council MemberAmerican Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  9. 2015 - present
    MemberTransplant Center Executive and Practice committee
  10. 2015 - present
    Vice PresidentFu-chan Wei Club
  11. 2015 - present
    Candidate MemberAmerican Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons
  12. 2015 - present
    Candidate MemberAmerican Society of Plastic Surgeons
  13. 2015 - present
    MemberAME
  14. 2014 - present
    MemberAmerican Association of Plastic Surgeons
  15. 2014
    ChairMaster Series Symposium Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  16. 2014
    MemberProgram Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  17. 2013
    ChairEducation Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  18. 2012 - present
    MemberNovel Technologies Team
  19. 2012 - present
    MemberInternational Advisory Team
  20. 2012 - 2014
    MemberBuncke Lectureship Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  21. 2012 - 2014
    MemberGodina Fellowship Selection Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  22. 2012
    MemberBuncke Lectureship Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  23. 2012
    MemberEducation Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  24. 2012
    MemberGodina Fellowship Selection Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  25. 2011 - 2013
    MemberProgram Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  26. 2011 - 2013
    MemberEducation Committee, American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  27. 2011 - present
    MemberAmerican Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS)/Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) SHARE
  28. 2010 - present
    MemberPriestley Society
  29. 2010 - present
    MemberVCA
  30. 2010 - present
    MemberAmerican Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery
  31. 2010 - present
    MemberAmerican Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons
  32. 2010 - present
    MemberMinnesota Medical Society
  33. 2010 - present
    MemberZumbro Valley Medical Association, American Medical Association
  34. 2009 - present
    MemberAmerican Medical Association
  35. 2008 - present
    Founding MemberAmerican Society for Reconstructive Transplantation
  36. 2008 - present
    MemberMayo Alumni Association

Publications