Dr. Patrick J. Byrne Named Next President of AAFPRS

The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) announced Patrick J. Byrne, MD, MBA, as president for the 2024-2025 term year. Dr. Byrne, an Ohio-based facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, formally assumed his new role at the 2024 AAFPRS Annual Business Meeting in New Orleans on Oct. 26. 

Dr. Byrne is international recognized as a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, with focuses on microsurgical facial reconstruction, skin cancer management, and facial aesthetic surgery. 

“I am honored to lead this Academy, which has a longstanding history of collaboratively pursuing clinical excellence on behalf of patients across the nation and the world,” Dr. Byrne said. “Facial Plastic Surgeons are extremely specialized, focusing exclusively on plastic surgery of the face, head and neck. At the same time, the field has enormous breadth across reconstructive and aesthetic interventions, from birth into the elder years. This is reflected in the ways our members choose to focus their own practices, both in private and academic settings.”

He is the Enterprise Chief of the Cleveland Clinic Integrated Surgical Institute and Chair of the Head and Neck Surgery Department at the Cleveland Clinic. He is also a professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine as well as at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. 

His resume includes previously serving as the Director of the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Byrne also continues to serve as the co-Director of the Randolph B. Capone Cleft and Palate Program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. 

Outgoing AAFPRS president Sherard A. Tatum, MD, welcomed Dr. Byrne, “Dr. Byrne’s unparalleled expertise with complex reconstructive surgery of the face, head and neck, including microsurgical reconstruction and his groundbreaking work treating patients with facial paralysis and performing complex facial reanimation surgery in adults and children, sets a high bar for our specialty,” he says. “We are thrilled to have him and look forward to his leadership that will surely help to enhance the Academy over the coming year. Congratulations, Dr. Byrne, and welcome aboard!”