History of the Program

The University of California, San Francisco is proud to have one of the oldest plastic surgery programs in the country.  Established in 1951, the first chief of plastic surgery was Harry Blackfield, followed by William Morris.  The first graduate of the program, Raymond Kaufman, DDS, MD, later became the president of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons.   Steven Miller (recently Chair of the ABMS) headed the program briefly.

Luis O. Vasconez took over as head of the program in 1978; he and Dr. Stephen Mathes were the first full-time faculty in plastic surgery at UCSF.  Dr. Mathes became Chief of the Division in 1985 and directed the program until 2005.  Under Dr. Mathes, the program expanded from 4 to 8 full time faculty, and the residency grew to three residents per year.  In 2005 Dr. William Hoffman, who was trained here at UCSF and has practiced on the faculty for over 20 years, succeeded Dr. Mathes.

The Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons here at the University of California, San Francisco have helped develop multidisciplinary research and patient care programs that have served as models for excellence in academic medicine.  Today, the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery faculty provides consultation and surgical services at the UCSF Medical Center, Mount Zion, San Francisco General Hospital, St. Francis, St. Mary's and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. The Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery serves patients of all ages, from neonates to the elderly.  Our staff has been trained to meet the age-specific needs of patients.