Getting a new face
Dr. Maria Siemionow lead the team of doctors that performed the first near-total face transplant in the US, last December.
The patient was a woman who had been shot in the face and severely disfigured.
Dr. Siemionow has written about the transplant, as well as the years of research it took to make transplants like this possible. Her book is Face to Face: My Quest to Perform the First Face Transplant.
If you’re a frequent public radio listener (we assume you are), you might have heard Terry Gross’ interview with Dr. Siemionow last week on Fresh Air. It’s great, and Gross is a master of interviewing, particularly the “procedural” elements of interviews like these.
But we also like Leonard Lopate’s interview with Siemionow, which aired last week on WNYC.
We recomend both for their handling of a subject that some find quite disturbing, and a subject that is so profound.
