In this Leveling Up episode of the PRS Global Open Deep Cuts, Dr. Michael Bentz discusses connecting with patients and building trust and rapport, the changes in pediatric plastic surgery over the last few decades, his approach to the syndactyly patient and the use of full thickness skin grafts, the nuances of placing upper and lower extremity splints in kids, teaching and giving feedback to residents, interviewing and selecting applicants for the residency program, what he considers to be a successful resident, and the lessons he learned from his mentors at PIttsburgh and Wisconsin. 

Read a classic PRS Global Open article by Dr. Bentz and colleagues, “What Influences a Plastic Surgery Resident to Pursue an Academic Career?”: https://bit.ly/PSAcadCareerInfluences_GOX   

Dr. Michael Bentz is a Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin. He recently stepped down as the chief of the Division of Plastic after 24 years and continues to serve as the Vice Chair in the Department of Surgery.

A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bentz completed medical school and a General Surgery residency at Temple University in Philadelphia, followed by a plastic surgery residency and a microvascular research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He stayed on at Pitt and became the residency program director, but left for Wisconsin in 1999 and has remained a fixture at the University of Wisconsin for the last 25 years, building a broad reconstructive practice including pediatric hand surgery; cleft lip and palate surgery; and general reconstruction of the chest, abdominal wall, extremity and head and neck in adults and children. 

Dr. Bentz has served as Chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, as an executive committee member for the Association of Academic Chairmen in Plastic Surgery, and has co-edited the two-volume book, Principles and Practice of Pediatric Plastic Surgery. He received the Honorary Citation Award from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2018.

Your host, Dr. Puru Nagarkar, is a board-certified plastic and hand surgeon, and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

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