Maria Siemionow

Maria Siemionow (born 3 May 1950 in Krotoszyn, Poland) is a Polish transplant surgeon and scientist. She is known for leading a team of eight surgeons through the first near-total face transplant performed in the United States at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The patient, Connie Culp, a 45-year-old woman from a small town in Ohio, was exceedingly disfigured by a close range shotgun blast in 2004. The procedure took 22 hours.

Siemionow practiced in Cleveland until 2014 when she was appointed Professor of Orthopedics and Director of Microsurgery Research at The University of Illinois, Chicago, Il, where she practices today. She is regarded as a world leader in nerve regeneration enhancement and in developing minimal immunosuppression regimens following transplantation. Provided by Wikipedia