INTRODUCTION TO GUEST EDITORS

I want to thank Drs. Eser Yuksel and C. Randall Harrell for serving as guest editors for this edition of Seminars in Plastic Surgery on the topic of “Tissue Repair, Regeneration, and Engineering in Plastic Surgery.”

I thank the authors, whose contributions make a difference for patients and academia.

Dr. Eser Yuksel is a national of Turkey and 1984 graduate of Hacettepe University Medical School. Dr. Yuksel completed a course of 8 years of training in the most prestigious Turkish training programs in plastic and reconstructive surgery, including advanced cosmetic and maxillofacial surgery. He established a successful practice in Europe as an extraordinarily gifted aesthetic and reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Yuksel came to Baylor College of Medicine to conduct research in emerging tissue growth technology and quickly began to expand his research activities to encompass molecular mechanisms of tissue engineering. In 1997, Dr. Yuksel was recruited and joined the Division of Plastic Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, as an assistant professor. His research involves in vivo soft tissue engineering and alternative approaches to modulate fibrotic processes in wound healing. Since then he has received 19 grant awards (4 of them as mentor and 15 of them as principal investigator) from professional societies including National Institutes of Health developmental grants (2). He is unique in that he has the combination of skills for performing surgery and the training and fundamentals of basic science to permit him to maintain a level of clinical performance in basic research traits so desirable in an academic institution but frequently so difficult to come by.

Dr. C. Randall Harrell, M.D. is a board-certified plastic surgeon trained at the Division of Plastic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Dr. Harrell is an internationally recognized authority on the investigation of new innovative medical devices with the Food and Drug Administration clinical studies that enhance facial regeneration. He holds worldwide patents for human collagen-based biomaterials used in tissue engineering and regeneration. He is the Chairman and Medical Director of Albiorex International, a biotechnology company specializing in tissue regeneration. He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery, and the Endocrine Society. Dr. Harrell has been a lecturer and published author of numerous journal articles on plastic surgery. Dr. Harrell was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his contribution to “Mission for Mercy” in El Salvador.

Again, my thanks to Drs. Yuksel and Harrell for serving as guest editors and to all the authors who contributed to this issue.