Plastic Surgery - Integrated

About the Program

The goal of the UW Plastic Surgery program is to train plastic surgeons in all four parts of academic medicine: patient care, medical education, medical research and administration. The plastic surgery program utilizes five University of Washington-affiliated hospitals. The hospitals include the UW Medical Center-Montlake, UW Medical Center-Northwest, Harborview Medical Center, the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. There are also rotation experiences at community hospitals and in private-practice plastic surgery office settings.

Interdisciplinary training and collaboration are hallmarks of training at University of Washington (UW). The University of Washington Burn Center is located at Harborview Medical Center and is involved in the residency program. The Division also participates in the Unified Hand Service. There are multidisciplinary care experiences in craniofacial surgery at Seattle Children’s Hospital and breast reconstruction at the UW Medical Center among others.

A multidisciplinary surgical team in scrubs collaborates around an operating table under a surgical light during a procedure or training scenario.

Program Leadership

Russell Ettinger, MD
Associate Professor

Residency Program Director
Co-Site Director - Seattle Children’s Hospital

Shannon Colohan, MD, MSc
Associate Professor

Associate Program Director
Site Director University of Washington Medical Center - Montlake

Duane Wang, MD
Associate Professor

Associate Program Director

Isaac Stein, MD
Plastic Surgery

Shane Morrison, MD
Associate Professor

Associate Program Director
Co-Site Director - Seattle Children’s Hospital

Christopher Crowe, MD
Assistant Professor

Associate Program Director
Site Director - Harborview Medical Center

Residency Alumni Spotlight

Portrait of Dr. Laura K. Tom, University of Washington Surgery residency alumna (Class of 2017) and Associate Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University.

LAURA K. TOM, MD (Class of 2017)

Since completing her residency training at the University of Washington in 2017, Dr. Laura K. Tom has built a career focused on reconstructive microsurgery and lymphatic surgery. Following residency, she pursued fellowship training in lymphatic surgery at the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain, with additional training across Europe and Asia. She subsequently joined the faculty at Georgetown University School of Medicine where she helped establish and grow a lymphatic surgery program.

A Pacific Northwest native, Dr. Tom returned to the region as Associate Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at Oregon Health & Science University. At OHSU, she is expanding access to advanced breast reconstruction and lymphatic surgery. Her work reflects the technical excellence, innovation, and patient-centered care that define the UW Plastic Surgery community.

Plastic Surgery Division Newsletters

2026 Newsletters

CLINICAL TRAINING

Training Sites

Learn in a variety of different healthcare settings across the Seattle region.

Harborview Medical Center

As the only designated Level I adult and pediatric trauma and regional burn center in the state of Washington, Harborview serves as the regional trauma and burn referral center for Alaska, Montana and Idaho and the disaster preparedness and disaster control hospital for Seattle and King County.

Harborview Medical Center is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to providing specialized care for a broad spectrum of patients from throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the most vulnerable residents of King County.

Plastic surgery clinical experiences at Harborview Medical Center include maxillofacial trauma, hand trauma, burns, injuries to the lower extremities and the trunk, and complex microsurgical reconstruction.

UW Medical Center-Montlake

As the No. 1 hospital in Seattle and Washington State (U.S. News & World Report), UW Medical Center-Montlake is one of the world's foremost tertiary referral academic health centers, delivering exceptional, multidisciplinary care to a vast array of patients who come to us from across the globe.

From first of their kind, life-saving surgical procedures to routine adult, maternal and newborn medicine, we're training the next generation of medical professionals. By using the latest advances in medical technology and patient- and family-centered care, we're building a better future for our community.

Plastic surgeons at the UW Medical Center are involved in oncologic reconstruction, breast reconstruction, general plastic surgical reconstruction, and aesthetic surgery.

UW Medical Center-Northwest

UW Medical Center-Northwest is a full-service medical center based in North Seattle, offering emergency and inpatient and outpatient medical, surgical and therapeutic care. The hospital offers personalized, quality care on a beautiful, easy-to-access, 44-acre campus.

UW Medical Center - Northwest is a community-based , non-profit hospital with 281 beds, 2,000-plus employees and a world-class medical staff that provides innovative, technologically advanced, patient-centered care.

At UW Medical Center-Northwest, plastic surgeons provide care for hand pathologies, perform breast and abdominal wall reconstruction, gender affirming surgery, and care for other reconstructive surgical problems.

Fred Hutch Cancer Center

The Fred Hutch Cancer Center is listed as one of the top 10 cancer centers in the U.S. (U.S. News and World Report). It is the No. 1 cancer hospital in the Pacific Northwest and Washington state's only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center. The Fred Hutch Cancer Center research provides world-class cutting-edge approaches to cancer treatment and prevention. Multi-disciplinary care combines powerful science with devoted collaboration, where boundary-pushing discovery happens—compassionate care and science working together.

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Seattle Children’s Hospital is a tertiary and quaternary academic referral which serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho – the largest region of any children’s hospital in the country.

Together, we deliver superior patient care, advance new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research and

The Plastic Surgery Service at Seattle Children's Hospital provides care for congenital anomalies of the head and neck and all other aspects of pediatric plastic surgery.

VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Since 1923, VA Puget Sound Health Care System has distinguished itself as a leader in teaching, research and patient care while earning prestigious recognition as part of the largest health care network in the country. It serves the health care needs of more than 112,000 Veterans living in 14 counties around the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest.

With a reputation for excellence, innovation and extraordinary care of our nation’s heroes, the VA Puget Sound is a university level VA and a regional referral site for VA's northwest region, VA Puget Sound Health Care System provides care for Veteran populations encompassing Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.

The plastic surgery practice at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System includes most aspects of plastic surgery except pediatric and acute trauma.

Rotations

Currently, the plastic surgery residents rotate on the various plastic surgery rotations starting as interns. They gain exposure to a wide variety of other surgical services and critical care on rotations such as orthopedics, burn, acute care general surgery, vascular surgery, trauma ICU up until the R3 year. The experiences they gain on other services help to make the plastic surgery residents well-rounded surgeons. Starting as R4s, the residents only rotate through plastic surgery services. They are on service at the major hospitals as well as several local private practices.

Conferences

The residents attend weekly plastic surgery didactic conferences on Wednesdays, even while on off-service rotations. Additionally, each hospital site conducts site-specific weekly lectures. The conferences include attending speakers, resident presentations, small case groups, in-service question review. The Didactic Conference Planning Committee, which is composed of a group of residents and Dr. Shannon Colohan review and edit the curriculum annually to ensure all necessary topics are covered and scheduled appropriately, as well as incorporate resident feedback.

Learn more about the University of Washington Division of Plastic Surgery Supervision Policy (PDF)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH

Educational & Research Conferences

Buehler Lecture

The annual Buehler Lecture is named by his family for Peter K. Buehler, a plastic surgery faculty member at University of Washington who passed away in the midst of a promising academic surgery career. This visiting professorship attracts the brightest minds in plastic surgery from the United States and around the world. This is a multi-day event with Grand Rounds lectures, resident presentations and a flap dissection course in which the Visiting Professor leads the Division in cadaveric dissections.

Department of Surgery Education Seminar

A Department-wide education event held every June, this seminar is an inspiring opportunity to gain education and valuable insight on a relevant and timely topic in the realm of surgical education. The topic changes yearly and compelling speakers from both inside and outside the Department participate.

Microsurgery Course

The Plastic Surgery program holds an annual weekend-long microsurgery skills course in the Harborview Medical Center WISH lab. This hands-on practical event allows practice and repetition in a collaborative and stress-free simulation environment.

LIVING IN SEATTLE

Salary and Benefits

University of Washington (UW) offers a wide range of benefits as part of your total compensation package:

Choose from top medical and dental insurance programs
Plan for your future with tax deferred investing through the UW retirement options
Vacation: 4 weeks
Protect yourself and your family with life and long-term disability insurance

More information can be found on the UW Benefits website.

University of Washington Housestaff Association

University of Washington residents and fellows formed a union in 2016, the University of Washington Housestaff Association. More information can be found on the UW Labor Relations website.

The stipend schedule for Academic Year July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 can be found below. Chief residents are provided an additional monthly supplement of $225 per month.

Plastic Surgery Residents Compensation table

Where do residents live?

Rankings

Top 10 Healthiest Places to Live in the U.S.
#1 – City with the Best Outdoor Activities in the U.S.
#1 - Best Coffee City in America
#1 – Best Public Transportation in the U.S.
Top 10 Most Walkable Cities in the U.S.
Top 10 Best Places to Live in the U.S.

Most residents live in one of the many neighborhoods that are walking or biking distance from one of our 5 main training hospitals. Whether you are looking for an apartment in the center of Seattle’s night life, a single-family home with a yard on a quiet street, or quick access to one of our parks, biking/running trails, or waterfronts, Seattle offers vibrant neighborhoods that make life outside the hospital even more enjoyable.

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what is your monthly rent or mortgage chart

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Of current residents...

61% live with a partner
26% have a platonic roommate
11% have children
42% have pets
65% have house plants

Will I need a car?

Consistently ranked as one of the best cities in the United States for both biking to work and public transit, many of our residents commute in various ways depending on the rotation they are on.
Almost all of our residents eventually get a personal vehicle, which not only facilitates commuting to our 5 training sites, but makes weekend escapes to the surrounding state and national parks even easier.

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CURRENT TRAINEES

HOW TO APPLY

For the 27-28 application season we will be holding interviews in person, and we will be accepting only Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) applications.

Our NRMP MATCH program number is: 1918362C0

Interview dates: December 4, 2026, and December 18, 2026

Applications will be compiled from ERAS on September 23, 2026.

Application materials required by the Division of Plastic Surgery and submitted through ERAS websites are:

Common Application Form
Personal Statement
Medical School Transcript Dean’s Letter
Letters of Recommendation (minimum of three)
Documentation of USMLE Scores
DO applicants also need to provide documentation of passing COMLEX-USA Level 1 and Level 2.

Virtual recruitment activities: American Council of Educators in Plastic Surgery (ACEPS) Meet & Greet

Monday, September 14th, 2026 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM (PST)/ 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM (EST)

To stay informed with recruitment activities, please consider following us on Instagram (@uwplasticsurgery) or Facebook (uwplasticsurgery)

For questions about our program or recruitment, email psurged@uw.edu.