SiemionowM

Maria Siemionow

Dr. Siemionow, a world-renowned scientist and microsurgeon, is Professor of Orthopedics and Director of Microsurgery Research at The University of Illinois at Chicago. She specializes in microsurgery, hand surgery, peripheral nerve surgery, transplantation, and microsurgery research.  She is pioneering development of new technology for minimal immunosuppression in transplantation and enhancement of nerve and muscle regeneration.
She served as a President of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation, President of the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society and President of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve.  She is a member of the academic-industry team, Warrior Restoration Consortium, focusing on development of clinical therapies and new technologies for wounded soldiers as part of the second phase of the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM II).
She has received numerous honors, including high praise as Principal Investigator for the world’s first IRB approval for Facial Allograft Transplantation protocol; in 2008, she led the team that performed the first near-total face transplantation in the United States.

Dr. Siemionow has over 330 scientific publications. She has edited three plastic surgery textbooks, two popular science books, and has contributed to over 120 published book chapters.

Dr. Siemionow received numerous awards including the Polish Order of Merit (2009), the Commander’s Cross Polonia Restituta Award from the President of Poland (2009), the Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research Award from the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (2010); the 2011 American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Board of Trustees Special Achievement Award and Casimir Funk National Science Award (2013). In 2014 she received the Great Immigrants Award from the Carnegie Foundation of New York. In 2016 Dr. Siemionow was awarded the Heritage Award granted by the Polish American Congress. In 2019 she received Golden Otis Award.
Prior to her UIC appointment, she was Director of Plastic Surgery Research and Head of Microsurgical Training for Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Plastic Surgery.