Associate Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

Dr. Amer is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and holds joint appointments as a consultant transplant nephrologist in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension (where he is also the Research Chair), and the William J von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration. Dr Amer is the Associate Center Director for Quality and Compliance and the founding and current Medical Director of the Reconstructive Transplant Surgery Program, and previously served as the Renal Transplant Fellowship Director, Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN.

He is the Past-President of the International Society of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (ISVCA), a Past Chair of the American Society of Transplantation-VCA Advisory Council and serves as a member of the Chauvet Workgroup Steering Committee.

Director of Perioperative Services
Transplant Instititue
NYU Langone Health, New York, USA

Dr. Bruce Gelb, MD FACS is a clinical abdominal transplant surgeon. His team performs groundbreaking work in transplantation including the world’s first successful face and bilateral hand transplant in 2020 the first whole eye transplant 2023, and most recently kidney xenotransplantation.

Dr. Gelb is the Vice-Chair of Quality in the Department of Surgery and is the Surgical Director of Perioperative Services in Manhattan for NYU Langone Health, overseeing 130 ORs and over 11,000 procedures annually. He is at the forefront of numerous quality and safety initiatives leading to unparalleled safety in the management of hospitalized patients.

Dr. Gelb has previously served on the UNOS Ethics and VCA Committees and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Ethics, and VCA Committees. He is currently the Vice-Chair Elect of the ASTS Legislative and Regulatory Committee.

Dr. Gelb focuses on ethics issues in healthcare and transplantation. He serves as an NGO member of the United Nations Academic Impact with special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and has addressed the UN General Assembly on transplant related issues.

Frank F. Kanthak Professor of Surgery (Plastics)
Chief, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery; Professor, Surgery
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

Dr. Bohdan Pomahac is Division Chief of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Pomahac joined the Yale Surgery and Smilow Cancer Hospital community from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he was the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Distinguished Chair in Surgery and Director of Vascular Composite Allograft Transplantation program.

A pioneer in his field, Dr. Pomahac’s team performed the first three full-face transplant procedures in the United States, and the first successful bilateral upper extremity transplantation in the Northeast. Dr. Pomahac made Brigham and Women’s Hospital the world leader in vascularized composite transplantation completing 10 face and 3 bilateral hand transplants.

Dr. Pomahac’s expertise adds to a growing portfolio of destination programs in the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Yale, which has grown into a multidisciplinary enterprise—with novel programs across Connecticut, including wound healing, craniofacial surgery, melanoma treatment, targeted muscle reinnervation, breast reconstruction, and cutting-edge research in machine learning and 3D printing. Most recently, Yale became just one of the first 5 centers in the USA that acquired Symani microsurgery robot to expand our footprint in super-microsurgery and lymphatic surgery.

Director, Face VCA Transplantation
Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns
Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron
Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Juan Pere Barret is a specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery.

After completing his training as a specialist in Barcelona, his interest and curiosity in medicine led him to work across the globe in a variety of countries. He lived in the US, Netherlands and the UK, where he worked as a physician and learned about distinct forms of hospital organization, applying innovative new techniques such as microsurgery and directing his own research projects.

In 2005, after 8 years abroad, he returned to Barcelona where he applied all of his acquired knowledge and experience. He was appointed Head of the Plastic Surgery and Burns Department of the Hospital Vall d´Hebron, the same hospital where he began his career.

His desire to improve his patients’ quality of life has led him to direct various European and international research projects. A lover of scientific dissemination, he has organized courses and congresses and has led conferences across the globe. In addition, he has written various books and scientific publications.

Professor of Surgery and Chair, Division of Plastic Surgery
Director, Facial Paralysis and Reanimation Clinic
Director, Cleft and Craniofacial Clinic
Surgical Director, Center for Reconstructive Transplant Surgery
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

Dr. Mardini completed his Plastic Surgery residency at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He then completed a one year Craniofacial Fellowship, and a two-year Reconstructive Microsurgery Fellowship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, followed by two years in an academic plastic surgery position in Taiwan before joining the staff at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Mardini’s primary clinical focus is on craniofacial surgery in children and adults with a special interest in facial nerve and facial transplantation.

Dr. Mardini’s research interests are in facial nerve, face transplantation, regenerative medicine, cleft and craniofacial diseases and 3-dimentional imaging and virtual surgical planning. He has published over 150 peer reviewed articles, over 30 book chapters and three books. Dr. Mardini is also an editorial board member of Seminars in Plastic Surgery and the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Journal, as well as reviewer for the journals of Surgery Research, Microsurgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Seminars in Plastic Surgery, Surgery and the Transplantation Journal.

Dr. Mardini is active in teaching and mentoring. He served for eight years as program director for Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education. He is also Chair of the Plastic Surgery Specialty Council for the Mayo Clinic enterprise. He is a founding member of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation and the World Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery and is the Treasurer for the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery and holds memberships in many other professional organizations.

Dr. Mardini’s most recent honors include Teacher of the Year for surgery and surgical subspecialties at Mayo Clinic, the Ahmad M. Obaid Honored Scholar in Reconstructive Surgery, and the Godina Traveling Fellowship. Dr. Mardini serves as a volunteer surgeon for organizations performing cleft and reconstructive surgeries around the world.

Assistant Professor
Head of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Helsinki University Hospital, Finland

Dr. Lassus completed his training in Helsinki in 2006 after which he did a one-year fellowship in the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery in Helsinki University Hospital.

His main clinical focus for 20 years has been in facial and head&neck reconstructive surgery and esthetic facial surgery. He is the leader of the Finnish Vascular Composite Allotransplantation program with two face transplantations in 2016 and 2018 and upper extremity transplantation in 2024. Dr. Lassus became a docent in 2007 and his research focuses has been in reconstructive facial and head and neck surgery and in facial allotransplantation. He has published 80 peer reviewed articles, supervised 4 thesis, and written chapters in 6 surgical books. He is currently the President of the International Society of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation and in the Board of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation.