Plastic Surgery Commons^™

Warren B. Davis And The Birth Of Plastic Surgery In Philadelphia: A Historical Vignette, Sarah F. Wagoner, Charles J. Yeo, Renee M. Tholey, James W. Fox, Steven E. Copit

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

The field of plastic surgery, formally organized in 1931 with the founding of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, was shaped in many ways by a small practice of Philadelphia physicians. At the center of the practice was Warren B. Davis, a Philadelphia otolaryngologist and plastics pioneer whose innovations in cleft palate surgery would lead to significant improvements in functional and cosmetic outcomes in his time. In addition to his own innovations, Davis was responsible for the training of John Reese, the inventor of the Reese dermatome that changed the face of burn medicine during World War II. …