Joshua Henderson
“Medicine is a wonderful career because the opportunities are endless and open the door for a wide range of practice models. In plastic surgery, I most enjoy the deep relationships we cultivate with our patients.”
What initially made you interested in medicine and plastic surgery?
Medicine is a wonderful career because the opportunities are endless and open the door for a wide range of practice models. In plastic surgery, I most enjoy the deep relationships we cultivate with our patients. These relationships develop because the timeline of care for our patients can often extend for several months or even years. Walking with patients through multiple stages of a surgical plan, as is common with body contouring or breast reconstruction patients, is a rewarding experience. The breadth of anatomy, physiology and pathology that we master also makes for a stimulating residency training experience.
Why did you choose WVU for your residency?
The plastic surgery residency at WVU offered me an opportunity to get a strong operative experience starting in my first year. Every week on our service is filled with a wide variety of surgeries, often quite different than the week prior, and I enjoy working in this diverse setting. The full array of plastic surgery is practiced in our Division, and I have been able to capitalize on many of these learning opportunities throughout my six years. I have also benefited from the support of my residency program to pursue my research interests and to expand my network by presenting at national meetings. Since the residency program was fairly new when I matched here, there were also unique ways in which I could contribute to the growth of our program.
What made you and your colleagues interested in conducting the study on weight control following body contouring surgery?
Note: Dr. Henderson conducted the study “Weight control following body contouring surgery: Long-tern assessment of postbariatric and nonbariatric patients” with Dr. Zachary Koenig and Dr. Kerri Woodberry. Their work was published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Body contouring is one of the more frequent services we provide for our patients and an area of plastic surgery that I particularly enjoy. Considering how many patients in West Virginia achieve sustained weight loss after both non-surgical and surgical weight loss methods, we work with a lot of patients who benefit from body contouring surgeries. Toward the middle of my residency, I developed a growing interest in aesthetic surgery and was looking for an opportunity to contribute to aesthetic surgery research. Given our large number of body contouring patients, my genuine interest in this part of the field, and the gap in the literature on long-term weight control following body contouring surgeries, evaluating these patients’ outcomes was logical. The chief of our Division and my mentor, Dr. Kerri Woodberry, also shared an interest in this population and supported me throughout this investigation.
Were any findings from the study surprising or is this consistent with other findings/literature?
Our study differs from previous studies in that we narrowed our focus to outcomes of body contouring procedures of the trunk (as opposed to any area of the body). Our results are also slightly different from previous studies that have been published on this topic, and this is partially due to the extended length of follow-up that we have for our patients. In the end, we found that weight regain is common following trunk-based body contouring and that this is more pronounced in patients who previously lost weight through bariatric surgery. Our comparison of the differences in outcomes between post-bariatric and non-bariatric patients are also unique from prior studies.
How will the findings from this study impact patient care?
Our study utilizes the highest quality measures to assess outcomes in this patient population and presents long-term outcomes over a 3.5-year follow-up period. Although there are clear benefits to patients who undergo body contouring surgeries, our study provides evidence to assist with counseling these patients in what they can usually expect to achieve post-operatively.
What are you hoping to do after completing residency?
I am finishing my training next year with a microsurgery fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. I am excited for this chance to further develop my microsurgical skills and to kick-start my career with a broad practice. Of course, I plan to perform body contouring surgeries regularly throughout my career, but I am also looking to utilize my microsurgical experience to serve patients in need of breast reconstruction and other reconstructive challenges.
How is your residency training at WVU preparing you for the next step in your career?
The plastic surgery training at WVU has been exactly what I needed. With only one resident per year in our program, residents receive close attention from the attendings and are also given a progressive level of independence. This one-on-one mentorship has benefited me greatly and has also influenced me to pursue additional fellowship training in microsurgery at Penn. Dr. Woodberry has supported my pursuit of unique elective rotations, international mission trips, presentations at numerous conferences, and curriculum adjustments to maximize my exposure to all aspects of plastic surgery. These combined efforts have given me a strong foundation on which to begin my practice after fellowship.
What advice would you give to medical students who are exploring residency programs?
My first suggestion is to pursue a field that motivates you to learn more every day. Residency training lasts for several years, and it is vital to continue studying and learning every day. Choosing a field you truly enjoy makes this easier.
Secondly, I would not over-emphasize the “lifestyle” demands of a training program when choosing which field to pursue. There are substantial sacrifices that must be made in pursuing nearly any residency training, and if you are truly committed to learning the skills and knowledge required to practice in that field, the demands of the training years are not worth the worry.
Most importantly, I advise medical students to commit to making the most of any training path they pursue. Each week in residency training is a new opportunity to model excellent and safe patient care, but you must consistently prepare well and study hard to learn all that is required in a given field.
Lastly, look for a program where the residents are supported by strong mentors who genuinely have the residents’ goals as their own. We benefit from this level of support in the WVU plastic surgery residency program, and it has made a profound difference in my training.
In regard to research, be open minded about how the outcomes of the patients you are already treating might present an interesting addition to the body of information currently available in the literature. While I initially thought that aesthetic surgery research might be limited through our Division, I eventually realized we had a wealth of data to explore in our own patient population and that the current literature presented many unanswered questions.