Maria Siemionow
Professor Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, DSc, is a world-renowned scientist and microsurgeon. She earned her medical degree from the Poznan Medical Academy in 1974 and completed her residency in orthopedics.
She earned a PhD, in 1985, for her thesis Evaluation of different microsurgical techniques of vessel anastomosisof diameter less than one millimeter and also completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Christine KleinertInstitute for Hand and Microsurgery in Louisville, KY. In 1990, Dr. Siemionow was appointed AssociateProfessor of Surgery at the University of Utah, and in 1992, she earned a PhD, DSc for her thesis Hemodynamicsof the microcirculation of the free muscle flap, direct in vivo study.
She specializes in microsurgery, hand surgery, peripheral nerve surgery, transplantation, and microsurgery research. Dr. Siemionow is also leading the way in developing new technology for minimal immunosuppression in transplantation, and enhancement of nerve regeneration.
From 1995 – 2013, Dr. Siemionow was the Director of Plastic Surgery Research and Head of MicrosurgicalTraining for Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Plastic Surgery. In 2005, she was appointed Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and in 2008 received honorary academic appointment as Professor of Surgery at the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland. In 2014, she was appointed as Professor of Orthopaedics and Director of Microsurgery Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She is past President of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation, the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society and the American Society for Peripheral Nerve. Additionally, she is a member of the academic-industry team, Warrior Restoration Consortium, focusing on developmentof clinical therapies and new treatments for wounded soldiers as part of the second phase of the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM II).
Dr. Siemionow has over 330 scientific publications. She has edited three plastic surgery textbooks, two popular science books, and has contributed to over 100 published book chapters. Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of nine professional society journals and is an ad hoc reviewer for six professional society journals.
In 2004, Dr. Siemionow received, as Principal Investigator, the world’s first IRB approval for her Composite Facial Allograft Transplantation protocol and led the team of surgeons that performed the first near-total face transplantation in the United States in 2008.For her work on face transplantation, Dr. Siemionow was honored with the James Barrett Brown Award for the best publication in a plastic surgery journal in 2004 and 2007.
She also received the Folkert Belzer Award in Transplantation for her work on transplantation and tolerance at the 6th Congress of the International Society for Organ Sharing in 2001. Dr. Siemionow is a recipient of the 2009 Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute Award for Excellence for the research on which her July 2009 Lancet publication “Near-total face transplantation for a severely disfigured patient in the USA” was based.
Recent awards include the Polish Order of Merit (2009), the Commander’s Cross Polonia Restituta Award from the President of Poland (2009 the American Association of Plastic Surgeons’ Clinical Researcher of the Year Award (2010), and Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research Award from the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (2010). In 2011, Dr. Siemionow received the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Board of Trustees Special Achievement Award and the 2011 Best Clinical Paper Award from the American
Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons for her January 2010 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery article “First U.S. Near-Total Human Face Transplantation: A Paradigm Shift for Massive Complex Injuries.”Other honors include the 2012 Best Clinical Paper Award from the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons for her May 2011 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery manuscript “Pathways of Sensory Recovery after Face Transplantation”, the SAPIENTI SAT Medal endorsed by the Ministry of Education of Poland (2012), the Casimir Funk National Science Award (2013,) and the Honoris Causa Doctorat awarded by Poznan University of Medical Sciences (2013). In 2014, Dr Siemionow received the Great Immigrants Award from the Carnegie Foundation of New York. In 2015 she received Golden Hipolit awarded by Great Poland Governor for her contribution to innovation in science and medicine. In 2016 Dr Siemionow was awarded the Heritage Award granted by the Polish American Congress. In 2018 she was awarded a title of the Businesswomen of the Year by Polish Business Foundation. In 2019 Dr. Siemionow received Golden Otis award. In 2020 Dr. Siemionow was became the Honorary Citizen of the City of Poznan, Poland. In April 2021 Dr. Siemionow will receive the Roswell Park Medal awarded by the Buffalo Surgical Society. In December 2021 Dr. Siemionow was nominated the Honorary Trustee of the Kosciuszko Foundation at New York City. In October 2022, Dr. Siemionow was nominated by the Polish Minister of Health as a Scientific Board Member of Medical Research Agency in Warsaw, Poland. In June 2023,
Dr. Siemionow was awarded Doctorate Honoris Causa by University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland, and in September 2023 she received Doctorate Honoris Causa awarded by Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Poland.
Dr. Siemionow’s professional society memberships include the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, AmericanAssociation of Plastic Surgeons, American Association for Hand Surgery, American Society for ReconstructiveTransplantation, The Transplantation Society, and American Society of Transplantation.
Dr. Siemionow was featured on the CNN, BBC World Service, Associate Press; NPR’s All Things Considered,New York Times, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic and Forbes.
Contact details:
Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, DSc
Professor of Orthopaedics
Director of Microsurgery Research
University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Orthopaedics MC 944
900 South Ashland Avenue, 3356 MCBRB
Chicago, Illinois 60607
tel. (312) 996-7161 ; Fax: (312) 996-9025
e-mail: siemiom@uic.edu