For immediate release: Jan. 28, 2009
Contact; Anne McMillin, APR
Office of Health Science Communications
Office 775-682-9254
Mobile 702-292-4247
amcmillin@medicine.nevada.edu
School of Medicine's William A. Zamboni, M.D., named president of American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery
Las Vegas-based plastic surgeon heads School's surgery department
LAS VEGAS, Nev.— Las Vegas plastic surgeon William A. Zamboni, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, University of Nevada School of Medicine, was elected president of the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery at their annual business meeting this month in Hawaii.
The society has more than 600 members representing 26 countries and is the largest reconstructive plastic surgery society in the world.
"I am very honored and humbled by this distinguished position and I am proud to serve a society and group of talented micro-surgeons that I have great admiration for. This appointment also reflects positively on the University of Nevada School of Medicine, University Medical Center and the Las Vegas medical community," Zamboni said.
Zamboni begins his term this month culminating at the annual meeting in Boca Rotan, Florida next January. His goal is to infuse youth and innovation to the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery during his term as president.
Zamboni is a native Nevadan who received his medical degree from the University of Nevada School of Medicine and residency and training in plastic surgery at Southern Illinois University where he began his clinical and research work on limb replantation.
In 1994 he returned to Nevada to establish a new Division of Plastic Surgery with the School of Medicine in Las Vegas. He started the replantation center at the Level One Trauma Center at University Medical Center so that patients with amputated limbs would not have to be sent out of state for surgical reattachment.
Through his research with hyperbaric oxygen, he was able to extend the length of time that a limb could be reattached and improve its survival and function. The limb replantation program at UMC and Zamboni have become internationally recognized for this pioneering work in limb reattachment which earned him the Distinguished Godina Microsurgery Fellow Award from the American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery in 1993.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.