Surgeon Maria Siemionow made history in 2008 when she and a team of doctors performed the first near-total face transplant in the United States.
The patient, Connie Culp, had been severely disfigured by a shotgun blast to the face. In a 22-hour procedure, Siemionow's team transplanted 80 percent of Culp's face. In May 2009, Culp came forward and revealed her new face to the world.
Siemionow is the director of Plastic Surgery Research and head of Microsurgery Training in the Plastic Surgery Department of Cleveland Clinic. She writes about the ground-breaking surgery in her memoir Face to Face: My Quest to Perform the First Full Face Transplant.
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