Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency
The Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine plastic surgery integrated residency program offers an environment of collegiality with rigorous academic pursuit and a demand for excellence of all our residents. We believe the best way to learn plastic surgery during your six year training is through a combination of early and extensive operative experience coupled with a robust didactic curriculum. Our emphasis on research, both clinical and basic science, fosters a unique environment of inquiry and results in residents and faculty producing numerous publications of articles, chapters and books despite our community based training model. Residents get the best of both worlds, an academic environment in a community setting.
From the Program Director
Greetings! I am the program director for the integrated plastic surgery residency at Spectrum Health, in partnership with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Plastic Surgery training is part of our DNA in Grand Rapids. We have been training successful, innovative plastic surgeons for nearly 100 years. As the sixth program director in program history, I am proud of the legacy of excellence and innovation, the environment of collegiality and inquiry and the continued quality of our residents, graduates and faculty.
We believe that plastic surgery is a technically demanding specialty and that to become proficient, residents must begin their operative experience early and be given graduated responsibility in the operative room. This training is completed at free standing and private surgical centers and multiple hospitals including a nearly 700 bed level one trauma center and a free-standing children’s hospital. Our graduates routinely complete their training with over 3,000 operative procedures as primary surgeon.
Surgical training is not only technical in nature. We believe a rigorous and varied didactic curriculum is needed to complete your plastic surgery training. Our residents spend nearly 10 hours every week in protected classroom time learning all aspects of plastic surgery training including microsurgery, hand surgery, cosmetic surgery, reconstructive breast surgery and adult and pediatric craniofacial surgery. I am proud to say that this robust academic schedule has led to a 100% pass rate on national boards for our graduates and has allowed many of our graduates to secure exceptional post-graduate training at competitive fellowships throughout the world.
Our faculty are dedicated to teaching and academics and many are known for their innovative techniques and educational abilities. Dennis Hammond, MD, our associate program director, is a world- renowned breast surgeon and expert on both cosmetic and reconstructive breast surgery. Dr. Hammond has been invited as a visiting professor at numerous plastic surgery training programs around the world and has helped to train hundreds of surgeons on the intricacies of the SPAIR reduction mammoplasty, a technique he developed and perfected. Dr. John Polley, MD is known for his work with distraction osteogenesis for craniofacial deformities and Dr. Robert Mann for his innovative use of buccal flaps in cleft palate repair. These innovative thought leaders helped develop an academic environment resulting in a large number of publications, including textbooks and articles in peer reviewed journals for themselves and our residents.
Our residents come from diverse backgrounds and medical schools throughout the United States. What they all have in common is a drive for academic excellence, their professionalism and their ability to work well in our team-oriented learning environment. We recruit academically gifted residents who will excel in our training model and who will improve the quality of our residency through their innovation and drive for excellence.
Our plastic surgery training model is unlike any program in the country. All faculty are volunteer board-certified surgeons who train residents because they love to teach.
Residents rotate through several private plastic surgery offices and thus learn about the business side of plastic surgery. This private practice experience coupled with the rigorous academic environment has led us to refer to our program as a “Privademic” model, fusing the best of both the academic and private practice models.
So, if you are looking for excellent plastic surgery training and you are an inquisitive, motivated applicant, this program may be a perfect fit.
Ronald D. Ford MD, FACS
Program Director, Spectrum Health/Michigan State University Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency
Clinical Professor of Surgery Michigan State University
President Michigan Academy of Plastic Surgeons
History
Graduates of our program have been honored with multiple leadership positions in plastic surgery. Ferris Smith was a founding member of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) and the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). Clarence Straatsma was a founding member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the Plastic Surgery Foundation and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Six of our trainees have been president of the ASPS (Clarence Straatsma, Wallace Steffensen, Reed Dingman, Mark Gorney, James T. Wells and Fred McCoy). Dr. Smith was president of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons and two graduates have been presidents of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgery (Samuel Noordhoff and Wallace Steffensen). In addition, five graduates have received Special Achievement awards from ASPS (Smith, James T. Mills, Clarence Straatsma, Reed Dingman and Wallace Steffensen) and two have received Special Achievement awards from ASPS (Mark Gorney and Ralph Blocksma).
We are proud of our history and our heritage of excellence in plastic surgery training. Grand Rapids has been and continues to be one of the leading centers in the country for plastic surgery training and innovation.
Innovate. Inspire. Impact.



Program Focus
- Plastic surgery–two blocks–one block
- Plastic surgery/hand surgery–one block
- Trauma–one block
- Surgical critical care–one block
- Anesthesia–one block
- Emergency medicine–one block
- Surgical oncology–one block
- Orthopaedic surgery/trauma–one block
- General surgery–three blocks
- Plastic surgery–two blocks
- Plastic surgery/hand surgery–one block
- Pediatric plastic surgery–one block
- Plastic surgery/research–one block
- Burn–two blocks
- Breast surgery–one block
- Trauma–one block
- Surgical critical care–two blocks
- General surgery–two blocks
- Plastic surgery–three blocks
- Hand surgery–two blocks
- Pediatric plastic surgery–one block
- Oral and maxillofacial surgery–one block
- Oculoplastics–one block
- Surgical dermatology–one block
- Pediatric surgery–one block
- Vascular surgery–one block
- Transplant–one block
- ENT–one block
- Core/cosmetic plastic surgery–four blocks
- Hand surgery–four blocks
- Pediatric plastic surgery–two blocks
- Breast surgery–two blocks
- Plastic surgery/research–one block
- Core/cosmetic plastic surgery–five blocks
- Hand surgery–two blocks
- Breast surgery–two blocks
- Pediatric plastic surgery–one block
- Academic/Trauma plastic surgery–three blocks
- Advanced core/cosmetic plastic surgery–five blocks
- Advanced pediatric plastic surgery–one block
- Advanced hand surgery–two blocks
- Advanced breast surgery–one block
- Academic/Trauma plastic surgery–three blocks
- Elective–one block
Average five hours per week of protected time for high quality educational curriculum and include:
- Weekly basic science covering selected readings in plastic surgery, Grabb & Smith, Neligan’s Plastic Surgery, as well as Flaps and Syndromes
- Weekly faculty teaching conferences, oral board review format
- Weekly hand surgery conferences with chapter review of Trumble Principles of Hand Surgery and Therapy, and Green’s Operative Hand Surgery
- Weekly plastic surgery grand rounds; follows a three-year curriculum and includes monthly morbidity & mortality review
- Weekly faculty-directed walk rounds
- Monthly journal club graciously hosted in faculty homes or offices, includes critical appraisal of current plastic surgery literature through an evidence-based medicine approach, as well as interesting case review





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West Michigan - A Great Place to Call Home
As the second largest city in Michigan, Grand Rapids is an amazing place to work, live, play and explore. This vibrant city is known for some of the best festivals in the world, like ArtPrize, and is only a short 45 minute drive to Lake Michigan. The city has been recognized by numerous sources, including The New York Times, where Grand Rapids was ranked as one of the 52 Places to Go. Additionally, Thrillist consider Grand Rapids the best food city in the state of Michigan, and in 2018, Trulia chose Grand Rapids as the Hottest Real Estate Market to Watch in the country. Grand Rapids is a city with endless experiences for people of every age. Learn more.
Meet Our Faculty
Class of 2026
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Class of 2021
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Get to know our residents
Our residents are a diverse group from a variety of backgrounds with unique experiences and interests. We look forward to getting to know you as well!