My love for painting and sculpture started as an adolescent and my passion for these art forms still remain true to this day.  I just can’t seem to get enough of it.  This love and passion led me to what I am doing today.  I am frequently teaching in other cities and take every opportunity to grab my camera and head over to a museum.
I was recently at the Art Institute of Chicago and I was studying a painting by French artist Camille Pissarro – Young Peasant Having Her Coffee.  It reminded me of my many days in Paris visiting The Rodin Museum.  My visits first began when I was doing my fellowship after I completing my plastic surgery residency at Brown University.  When I wasn’t in the operating room in Paris, I was taking advantage of all the absolutely extraordinary museums in the City of Light.  The Rodin Museum is my all time favorite because of the way it demonstrates the artist’s vision, the plan, and then the result.
I carry this vision with my work as a plastic surgeon – first listening to my patients’ concerns, carefully studying their unique features, planning how we can help them, and then carrying this vision to the operating room.  It is so gratifying to see how this makes such a difference in their post-operative results.  For me, there is truly a deep connection with art and plastic surgery.  I am currently working on a book to demonstrate how the true essence of plastic surgery and the ability to give our patients a very natural enhancement is based in the development of one’s artistic skills.
