Research
Innovation
Training
HumanitarianThe PSF President's Message
 |
| Charles N. Verheyden, MD, PhD, FACS |
The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF) is a catalyst for change and growth, answering the previously unanswerable questions in our specialty, while improving patient safety and the quality of care. Research is the life blood of innovation and is at the very heart of The PSF's mission.
As the research and philanthropic arm of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, The PSF has worked since 1931 to provide support to the plastic surgery sciences through investment and volunteerism. Innovation in plastic surgery has a far-reaching impact across medical specialties. Research funded by The PSF has lead to groundbreaking advances in breast reconstruction, limb transplantation, fat grafting and stem cell transfer that have touched lives around the world.
Research-driven data from The PSF impacts clinical outcomes every day. The Clinical Trials Network, a leading facilitator of evidence-based medicine, builds vast multi-center networks to research clinical priority areas in plastic surgery. The Foundation's work in developing national registries, such as a new National Breast Implant Registry in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, helps ensure that plastic surgeons have the data to answers questions, track outcomes and improve treatments.
The Foundation's mission doesn't end at home. Through our Volunteers in Plastic Surgery program, more than 150,000 children and adults in impoverished countries without access to care have received burn reconstruction, cleft palate repair and other procedures from skilled ASPS members. The PSF proudly supports these efforts as both humanitarian and teaching opportunities. The International Scholars program allows plastic surgeons from abroad to study at host institutions in the United States, ensuring that knowledge, research and data are shared to improve the lives of patients worldwide.
The Breast Reconstruction Awareness Fund is yet another way The PSF works to further research and quality care that impacts lives. Coordinated through the Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day campaign, the fund works to raise awareness about reconstruction options for breast cancer survivors, provide access to reconstructive procedures and fund research. The PSF is excited to announce a nascent initiative with Fresh Start, a charity dedicated to pediatric reconstruction that helps children with physical deformities from the United States and around the world.
The future of plastic surgery is filled with exciting promise and creativity, but it needs your support to realize that potential. Please help The PSF continue its mission by helping us fund the research that will give birth to tomorrow's innovation and support the infrastructure for our global humanitarian efforts. No contribution, large or small, will go unnoticed.
