Leadership Trends in Plastic Surgery

The impact of a world economy on our lives, on medicine, and on plastic surgery is immeasurable. The Internet has facilitated the free flow of information, exponentially extending the power of traditional avenues of professional education (e.g., publications and meetings). What is still missing in our specialty, however, is the dialogue that is so essential to develop ideas and thoughts for innovative concepts. Hence, a meeting in which plastic surgeons from all around the world can meet and discuss these innovations and controversies is long overdue. We are beginning this process with our European colleagues in April of 2009 in Paris, with Transatlantic Innovations: New Frontiers in Plastic Surgery. Plastic surgeons are perhaps some of the most international in the medical profession already. Our members traverse the world to provide training and perform surgery in developing countries, while consumers from developed countries are also traveling in increasing numbers in search of the surgery they want at the best price. Medical tourism has become an industry, giving rise to its own trade association, the Medical Tourism Association, which estimates that 75 percent of the more than half a million Americans traveling annually for medical care are doing so for plastic surgery. The Journal already serves a worldwide audience. Half of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery subscribers are from outside the United States. In fact, it is the most subscribed to and indexed peer-reviewed plastic surgery journal in the world. Soon, it will go live on a new website. The new site, which is currently being beta-tested for our readers, will further extend the Journal as a global resource. Ten percent of American Society of Plastic Surgeons members are international, as is almost 20 percent of the attendance at our annual meeting. Increasingly, our annual meeting, national and international symposia, and this Journal have become the showcases for research advances from other countries, as plastic surgery scientists seek to learn and build on each others’ work. The Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation’s Volunteers in Plastic Surgery program has supported dozens of surgical missions, with funding from Smile Train. Surgical outcomes methods, including TOPS, developed in conjunction with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation, are becoming the recognized research standards, as are our patient safety programs and marketing programs and products. We believe that given our experience, it is logical for the Society to reach out to its sister organizations in Europe to collaborate on Transatlantic Innovations. While many in plastic surgery are international, we are not yet global. To become global, we will need to further work across national borders, build collaboration between plastic surgery organizations, and create networks of plastic surgery innovators and thought leaders. In a world where consumers, industry, and regulators operate globally, it is essential that plastic surgery do so as well. There are many benefits to this. First is the opportunity to improve research and evidence development, to facilitate technical innovation, to better inform public policy, and to help harmonize professional standards, so that plastic surgeons’ qualifications and practice can be viewed as consistent from country to country, thereby ultimately assuring consumers of quality and safety. As an international organization and Journal, we are promoting trade (in ideas) with other national and international organizations. A global specialty will transcend the limitations of national boundaries to focus on dialogue, science, and innovation. This new world view implies a new and highly interactive form of communication and education among international plastic surgeons. We have to develop and learn a new global language of respectful discourse among peers that takes away the artificial podium and provides a multimedia forum for exchange among scientists, plastic surgeon practitioners, corporations, and consumers. On April 4 through 7, 2009, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in partnership with several international and European societies, will launch a new type of conference, Transatlantic Innovations. The purpose of this meeting is to convene key thought leaders from Europe, the United States, and around the world to discuss and debate scientific advances, over-the-horizon technology, and socioeconomic trends affecting our specialty now and in the future. Our partner organizations are the International Confederation of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Societies, the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, and the French Society of Plastic Surgeons. A unique aspect of the meeting is that it will be convened in conjunction with the biannual meeting of the International Committee for Quality Assurance, Medical Technologies, and Devices in Plastic Surgery (IQUAM). IQUAM is a consensus body recognized by the European Union whose recommendations on new plastic surgery technology help inform regulatory policy in Europe and around the world. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery will publish selected abstracts and the IQUAM proceedings. Using this meeting as the foundation, we anticipate expanding global relationship development with biannual conferences in the United States and other regions of the world, as well as through online communities and travel scholarships. The conference is intended to be evidence-based and highly interactive in format. It will take advantage of technology to develop an innovative consensus development protocol, including preconference surveys, real-time audience response voting, and vigorous debates. Structured program time will be augmented by open-ended “innovation cafes,” where discussion can continue informally. There will be no commercial exhibits as such, but peer-to-peer discussion opportunities with industry representatives will be extensive. Faculty is drawn from Europe, the United States, and other regions, and it is anticipated that the audience will be similarly diverse. Topics will include new surgical technologies (including lasers and fillers), applications and controversies in fat grafting, composite tissue allograft versus conventional techniques, the image and “brand” of the plastic surgeon, medical tourism, interspecialty collaboration versus competition, the business of plastic surgery, and the regulation of innovation. In this latter topic, officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the European Union will share their approaches to premarket studies and postmarket monitoring, and discuss how both entities balance the evaluation of benefit and risk. The latest Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation–funded research on patient report outcomes will be presented. Detailed information on faculty, schedule, and registration can be found at www.transatlantic-innovations.org. We encourage you to attend this event. What could be better than a cutting-edge conference with your international peers? In Paris? In April? We encourage our readers to consider joining us and to use this meeting as a springboard to begin their own journey for global innovation and improving the practice of plastic surgery worldwide.