KEYNOTE LECTURE

Time to face the future of head & neck transplants!

Full face transplants used to be a matter of science fiction, with movies such as “Face Off” telling the stories of these wondrous transformations. One of the doctors who turned fiction into fact is Prof. Joan-Pere Barret, the specialist who performed the first ever full face transplant.

Prof. Barret led a team of 30 surgeons during the 24 hour procedure. Their patient was a 30 year old farmer who accidentally shot his own face, thus becoming unable to speak, breathe or eat on his own. Prof. Barret and his team performed a full face transplantation, meaning they managed to lift an entire face, including jaw, nose, cheekbones, muscles, teeth and eyelids from the donor and placed it onto the patient, like a mask. The man was predicted to regain 90% of his previous facial functions after this fascinating surgery.

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ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

Joan-Pere Barret

Prof. Joan-Pere Barret is recognised worldwide for being the first specialist to perform a full face transplant. Having an exhaustive medical education, Prof. Barret has gained knowledge from all over the world, by obtaining both a Clinical Burn Fellowship at the Shriners Burns Hospital, University of Texas and a Plastic Surgery Fellowship at the University of Texas. Currently he is the Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, the Director of the Burn Centre, the Director of the Face and Hand Transplantation Program at the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.

Prof. Barret is also a Professor of Surgery and the Director of Plastic Surgery Graduate Training, at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Prof. Barret has received a number of awards, including the Best Scientific Idea offered by the Diario Médico, Madrid, Spain in 2010, and the Alata Solertia Prize, offered by the University of Messina, Italy in 2010.