Living the Dream: Working with Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Start with a great quotation, and end with a great quotation. —Rod J. Rohrich, M.D. Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., sat down at the table, introduced himself with a smile and a handshake, asked a few questions, and pushed over a pen and a pad of paper. He said, “You’re trapped in an alleyway downtown late at night and some people who want to do you harm are approaching. Draw one item you would use to safely get out of that situation.” While not every one of us who ended up joining the PRS family were interviewed with that exact question (though at least three of us were), the theme and the experience of that initial interview were how we all first met Dr. Rohrich: a little daunting, enigmatic, mischievous, and challenging. When people ask us what it is like working with Dr. Rohrich, the story of our interviews certainly comes up, but that’s just one piece of fabric that makes up the quilt. Dr. Rohrich is kind and firm; passionate and protective; creative and hard-working; funny yet serious; a visionary who leads by example. He advocates for his teams, for the field of plastic surgery, and, above all, for the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal itself. He has led the charge and supportively enabled his team and editorial board members to develop and launch Journal-changing, award-winning, ground-breaking initiatives. But those accomplishments have already been documented in the pages of this Journal. In this editorial, in the last issue of PRS with Dr. Rohrich as Editor-in-Chief, we aim to enter into the plastic surgery literature what it was like to work for Dr. Rohrich to make this Journal. There is no better way to do so than to share the life lessons we have learned from him along the way. Some lessons Dr. Rohrich intends to teach; others we have learned by observing his personal philosophies in practice, which if you follow him online or have spent any meaningful time with him in a professional capacity, you will note that he is more than happy to share in the form of his many pithy catchphrases and wise mottos. The first lesson, which we’ve already detailed, is that “first impressions matter.” That is true, but as Dr. Rohrich’s plethora of life lessons show, first impressions are just the beginning. “#LIVINGTHEDREAM” One of Dr. Rohrich’s most famous catchphrases and sincere lessons is to “live the dream.” For many years, he had a banner over his office door that read “#LivingTheDream”; he even spent a brief period encouraging us to “live, eat, smell, and breathe the dream!” But this isn’t just motivational small talk. Dr. Rohrich truly loves what he does—with his patients in the clinic, with his fellows, nurses, and team in the operating room, and with the editorial team on the Journal. We’ve shared many exhilarating adventures traveling to destinations around the world to meet with plastic surgeons and share the journals. It’s certainly not hard to be “living the dream” when you travel to the Taj Mahal or scale the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but it can be hard to have the same enthusiasm for daily editorial work as one does for world travel. But Dr. Rohrich does it readily and earnestly, and he wants to make sure that those in his orbit and on his teams are also “living the dream” every day. He has such enthusiasm for what he does, that it’s hard not to feel the same way. Nothing personifies this more than the “the red bag.” After years of shuttling daily paperwork from the editorial office via courier in a variety of tote bags that couldn’t hold up for long under the weight of our work, we purchased a durable big red bag embroidered with the letters “PRS” to transport the papers back and forth. The red bag showed up more and more in Dr. Rohrich’s Instagram feed, as he proudly received the bag heavily loaded with the day’s work. He asked us to feature the red bag on social media too, and we did it, solely for him at first. But Dr. Rohrich’s unbridled enthusiasm for the daily tasks of working on the Journal, personified by this bag, rubbed off on us. As The Red Bag became our office mascot, we quickly adopted this public show of enthusiasm for the hard work we did. We recorded timelapse videos of us filling it, tweeted about the joy of the daily drop off, and ritualized the end-of-day filling of it. Heck, some of us even took it home and washed it. Similarly, thanks to Dr. Rohrich’s infectious joy for life (and work) and encouragement, we all find the joy in what we do and aim to live the dream every day. Lesson learned: no matter if you’re packing your bags for global travel or your daily work, love what you do and live the dream! —Aaron Weinstein “I WISH I WORKED FOR ME” It’s a statement we’ve all heard many times from our fearless leader. Whether it was in response to one of us taking a vacation, discussion of our annual Halloween festivities, or asking him to join us out to lunch to celebrate a birthday, Dr. Rohrich would always respond, “I wish I worked for me.” It was always said in a joking manner with a smile on his face, but the truth is, you do wish you worked for Dr. Rohrich. I think all of us on the editorial team can agree, that first interview with the Editor-in-Chief, who also happens to be a world-renowned plastic surgeon, is daunting, to say the least. Those of us who weren’t warned about the brevity of said interview left Dr. Rohrich’s office replaying the 10-minute conversation and wondering if that was normal. It is, in case you were wondering. What you learn quickly, though—whether it’s through personal experience or through stories from your team—is that Dr. Rohrich is not like your “normal” boss. He has a charisma unlike any other, a drive that has you questioning how he was still awake and emailing you at 3 a.m., a comprehensive knowledge of social media to rival Gen Z, and—what most people may not see behind the scenes—a true respect, gentleness, and care for the people he works with. When one of us suffered from a deviated septum, Dr. Rohrich performed the surgery himself. When another needed a tonsillectomy, he was happy to recommend a surgeon and took time out of his busy schedule to call and check up on them a few days after the surgery. He put our safety first when COVID-19 raged out of control, supported us working from home, and helped us navigate our new normal in more ways than one. And when we had two PRS-colleague weddings in the middle of the pandemic, he was right there, sitting with the rest of us with masks on and celebrating. Dr. Rohrich is more than just a boss and fearless leader. He’s a funny, charismatic, kind, caring human being, and it’s a been a privilege to know and work with him. —Christina Carson “THE BEST OF THE BEST” “You are the Best of the Best.” These words were written on many birthday cards I—and my co-workers—have received from Dr. Rohrich over the years. These are definitely words he lived by and encouraged everyone to aspire to. Not only did he strive for excellence in his practice but with the Journal as well. He has propelled the Journal to greater things through forward thinking and innovation. When I started with the Journal, Dr. Rohrich had just officially become the Editor-in-Chief. The Journal was just switching over to the online submission system, and boy am I glad to have missed the era of snail mail and the transition to digital, but Dr. Rohrich led the painful, but necessary, charge to improve! He has consistently pushed for our PRSJournal.com website to be the best as well. Through many strategic planning meetings, I remember Dr. Rohrich always pushing our publisher to update our website with new innovative ideas to make it better, more user-friendly, and essentially “the best of the best.” Nothing less would do. With all of that labor, we have become a flagship journal for our publisher, always pushing them forward in technology and design. Though they never indicated it, they might be a little tired of hearing the words “make this better,” or “faster,” or “more accurate.” But Dr. Rohrich wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best. Dr. Rohrich’s expertise and vision lead many people to want to work with him or for him. Remembering our presence at many American Society of Plastic Surgeons annual meetings, there were so many people who would try to meet with Dr. Rohrich that we nicknamed him “the Rock Star.” I’m not sure if he can sing, but he sure can draw a crowd! His drive is one to be reckoned with. He is the only person I know who would be disappointed with an “easy” day of work. The bigger the stack of articles to go through, the happier he was. Of course, being his editorial crew, we learned from his drive for excellence and wanted to impress, so we always did our best to make sure the stack was as tall as we could make it. Dr. Rohrich’s vision and push for the Journal to be the best has led PRS to have four record-breaking impact factors in the past 5 years, tens of thousands of citations each year, the highest-quality figures and video in every article, and amazing photographs and illustrations on the cover of every issue. Working with our authors and reviewers, he strived to publish the best articles in the plastic and reconstructive surgery field. The advancement the Journal has made while he has been Editor-in-Chief has been a great accomplishment. It has been a pleasure working with “the Best of the Best,” and learning from the best how to become better at my job every day. Congratulations to Dr. Rohrich! —Angela Burch RESPECT FOR OTHER PEOPLE The first occasion on which I spent much time with Dr. Rohrich was when he and some other representatives of the editorial board, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and our publishing company met with Dr. Goldwyn and his staff (which consisted of myself and one other person) at the editorial office in Brookline, for a wide-ranging discussion of peer review, editorial production, the state of medicine, the state of publishing, computers, advertising, and much else; it was a very long meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, I brought up some questions about statistical methods and the correlation of texts and tables; those are not a popular topic, but Dr. Rohrich was intensely interested. No matter how tired we must have been by that time and no matter how many difficult, complicated questions had been discussed, he was fully engaged. "Ideas guy" or "nuts and bolts"? As Dr. Rohrich exemplifies, you need both. Even before he became Editor-in-Chief—in particular, while he was Co-Editor—Dr. Rohrich led the campaign for PRS to publish in full color, to appoint section editors and international editors, and to streamline in-house procedures by means of a computerized manuscript-tracking system as soon as a good system for doing that became available. He is always looking for new ideas, though he is careful about choosing and adopting them. In the philosophical tradition associated with Confucius, intellectual habits are thought of as moral habits; attention to other people's ideas and experiences is respect for other people. In this way, evidence-based medicine and caring about one's colleagues are aspects of the same basic principle. It is quite logical, therefore, that Dr. Rohrich's intellectual energy is accompanied by concern for the people he works with. Early this year, for a quite serious medical condition, I found that I was enrolled in a program that was both uncaring and incompetent. When I shared this information with Dr. Rohrich, he quickly arranged for me to become a patient of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, which has made a spectacular difference. Thank you, Dr. Rohrich! —Edward Tynan “CAN WE TAKE THAT AGAIN?” To prepare for each monthly 6AM “Plastic Surgery Hot Topic Videos” shoot, I would always make myself an unhealthy amount of coffee with sugar and arrive at the office, coffee in hand, to set up the cameras, lights, and microphones with Aaron. We would enjoy a few quiet moments before Dr. Rohrich walked in with a burst of energy and laughter. When he opened the door, he was already filming an Instagram post promoting the journal. As we went over what we were about to shoot and got Dr. Rohrich miked up, he would never stop engaging with us, telling us about the latest social media trends, discussing the latest goings on in the journal or the world, telling us jokes, or doing impersonations, like his classic Robin Williams. I would marvel at Dr. Rohrich’s boundless energy—and this was all before we even started recording! During the shoot, if the teleprompter accidentally projected the script backwards or upside-down, Dr. Rohrich would try his best to read it—sounding like he was speaking in tongues—and then laugh and say, “We should take that again.” If he got stuck on a tongue twister or complex phrase, he’d either chuckle and shrug it off or loudly cuss with a smile and say, “Can we take that again?” If something in the script gave him the giggles, he’d laugh—sometimes until he was red in the face—and we’d just keep rolling and laugh with him until we all caught our breath. He’d say, “Let’s take that again.” During my more-than-three-years of video shoots, Dr. Rohrich taught me an important lesson: it’s okay to laugh off a harmless mistake and try again. Watching Dr. Rohrich was watching a person who truly loves his truly loves what he does, and everyone to feel the After Dr. Rohrich left the office each I would get back to my full of was by I would always ask do I even make coffee when I have Dr. Rohrich to me so much Thank you, Dr. Rohrich for and us to as and people. Thank you for us that it’s important to find the in our Thank you for being the of coffee that we need to get us in the and the been working with Dr. Rohrich for more than a We’ve shared many and experiences that will be in my One that out a of and even a of in the is not always the to and I have never much That had me first in the editorial office before the up and the was busy with I would the door behind and work by the of my Dr. Rohrich, being no to the of the on one day to also arrive at the office We in the he left before I But that I was than into a office on the with coffee in hand, Dr. Rohrich never me To say I him would be an His coffee my and on his I what he said, but use your his went he asked I was there so and I not much for being a little in he was with my He with a classic that would with our team for years, “You can when you’re I’m sure he was joking him off at least But that has to Dr. Rohrich’s and work which have been a to me all years. him from a room, into a and shoot a “Plastic Surgery Hot video with no him through and aim to the of every at Plastic Surgery The he each to be by even behind him on as we the of to the than to an through his and the of PRS and PRS and of his teams his to Dr. Rohrich, I know that I can always up on my another day. I must my to my to Dr. Rohrich! the coffee is on me how the of my with Dr. Rohrich over the past years have of words of or or on the I first met Dr. Rohrich in in while he was as of American Society of Plastic Surgeons and I was in my as the new of Plastic Surgery It was a to the editorial ask about the stories we were and us for our hard work before he was off to the It was a but it left us all about the work we do. world-renowned plastic surgeon, innovative journal and a social media Dr. Rohrich has many It’s his to the that may be his He’s a human presence of and enthusiasm it and into one for new is He and but make no Dr. Rohrich is also and in his for He a for himself and those around but works or has more while doing it. He’s always telling us that you have to love what you and it’s a he and every day. it’s our to say, you, Dr. Rohrich, for all you do. has been I had only been working for PRS for a of when I my first Plastic Surgery The in our last at a with the editorial publishing and and editorial board Dr. Rohrich up and said, “I want everyone to share the three things that learned this meeting. go around the I What had I It was my first would I even What if I said the I that I had been so caught up in the of the and my of tasks that I a to the things I had learned or the people I had was not a Rohrich was encouraging us to and while was still while we were still in that After this I learned that any PRS would more than just a I that it was not for Dr. Rohrich to that we share our or lessons learned after a or he asked us to share our for the new at a strategic planning he us into teams and each team to share best with the But his most is that everyone at the make a if the only on the are of and share from the with a few words from Dr. Rohrich, and the of the he will call on people to share the so that he but at least one more himself. the years, of moments us the to the of we have in our work and the we feel for each These truly make the PRS team feel as Dr. Rohrich to us, “the PRS Dr. Rohrich is a he is truly a of the team he He is as passionate about learning from others as he is about and he is as in the of those around him as he is in the latest or social media He and and he the professional and ideas of to He and the shared experiences of everyone who works on the Journal, encouraging us all to learn from one another and on our accomplishments like to a to Dr. Rohrich to the as an Editor-in-Chief, as an and as an Even though your work isn’t even to being already left an on the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery, as as the people who have had the to work with you, those of us who are of the PRS THAT may not a but they are of some of the of the lessons learned from working with Rod J. Rohrich, M.D., as the Editor-in-Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive In we’d like to share one more After a long day at the at a Plastic Surgery The in the team went out with Dr. Rohrich, our and a few editorial board members for our annual With full and happy we Dr. Rohrich out of the and into the of the for a team over the for the day. the door to the opened into the and out for the night was still up even more when they Dr. Rohrich and up to him. Rohrich! It’s to meet we you to the for a Dr. Rohrich at us and around to the of the take a or and after a he took them up on Dr. Rohrich asked the editorial team if any of us wanted to join him in the the time our were set for the day’s work at the meeting, we all He said with a and gave and the into the One over his for a at what could make us this to with THE Rod J. Rohrich, He said, you you know who that We at each We do know who Dr. Rohrich We feel to have worked with him on PRS and We feel to have of him that others do It has been a pleasure to be his his his and even his from time to We have been with Dr. Rohrich, and we know the lessons learned and experiences will with us To is to to be is to