Grants We Funded
Grant applicants for the 2023 cycle requested a total of nearly $4 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated nearly 140 grant applications on the following topics:
The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $1 million dollars to support nearly 30 plastic surgery research proposals.
ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.
Research Abstracts
Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.
Evaluation of Appearance Transfer & Persistence in Central Face Transplant
Pejman Aflaki MD
2009
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.
Scientific Essay Contest
Background: Partial facial allotransplantation is an emerging option in reconstruction of central
facial defects, providing function and aesthetic appearance. Ethical debate partly stems from
uncertainty surrounding identity aspects of the procedure. There is no objective evidence regarding the effect of donors' transplanted facial structures on appearance change of the recipients and its influence on facial recognition of donors and recipients.
Methods: Full-face frontal view color photographs of 100 volunteers were taken at a distance of 150 cm with a digital camera (Nikon/DX80). Photographs were taken in front of a blue background, and with a neutral facial expression. Using image-editing software (Adobe-
Photoshop-CS3), central facial transplantation was performed between participants. Twenty
observers performed a familiar "facial recognition task", to identify 40 post-transplant composite faces presented individually on the screen at a viewing distance of 60 cm, with an exposure time of 5 seconds. Each composite face comprised of a familiar and an unfamiliar face to the
observers. Trials were done with and without external facial features (head contour, hair and ears). Two variables were defined: "Appearance Transfer" refers to transfer of donor's appearance to the recipient. "Appearance Persistence" deals with the extent of recipient's appearance change post transplantation. A
t-test was run to determine if the rates of Appearance
Transfer differed from Appearance Persistence.
Results: Average Appearance Transfer rate (2.6%) was significantly lower than Appearance Persistence rate (66%) (P<0.001), indicating that donor's appearance transfer to the recipient is negligible, whereas recipients will be identified the majority of the time. External facial features were important in facial recognition of recipients, evidenced by a significant rise in Appearance
Persistence from 19% in the absence of external features to 66% when those features were
present (P<0.01).
Conclusion: This study may be helpful in the process of prospective recipients' informed consents. It is beneficial for education of donor families and is expected to positively affect their decision to consent for facial tissue donation.
First Place Art & Science Category -
Dr. Aflaki is currently a resident in General Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. After graduating from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) he completed his Basic Surgical Training Rotation in England and subsequently did a research fellowship at the Division of Plastic Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His research interests are composite tissue/facial transplantation and wound healing. He won the Joseph E. Murray M.D. award in the New England Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (NESPRS 2008) for the best scientific paper.