Research & Discovery UConn Health

September 21, 2022 | Lauren Woods - Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine

Best Paper Award Goes to UConn Plastic Surgery Chief Dr. Andrew Chen

The premier journal in plastic surgery called Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has honored UConn Health Plastic Surgery Chief Dr. Andrew Chen with a 2022 Best Paper Award.

Andrew Chen MD is chief of the division of plastic surgery at UConn Health. (Tina Encarnacion/UConn Health photo)

Dr. Andrew Chen, Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at UConn Health, is a recipient of a 2022 Best Paper Award in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It is the premier journal for the field of plastic surgery.

Chen, associate professor of surgery and orthopaedic surgery at UConn School of Medicine, is the lead and corresponding author on the winning “Best Trunk Reconstruction Paper” entitled “Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Reconstruction after Skin Cancer Resection.”

To select the winning manuscripts and their impact the journal’s editorial and publishing staff scoured data for all manuscripts published in 2021 to determine the number of times each article was read online or via PDF for the 16 months following article publication.

“I am very honored to present this Best Paper Award to you,” wrote the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Dr. Kevin C. Chung to Chen. “Thank you for your contribution to our Journal and our field.”

The applauded manuscript was a multidisciplinary collaboration with physicians from plastic surgery, dermatology, Mohs surgery, otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, oculoplastic surgery, as well as patient representatives. The paper’s physician thought leaders span a number of surgical specialty societies, including American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS), American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS), American Society for Mohs Surgery (ASMS), and American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS).

“We were able to bring together physicians and representatives from different specialties and societies, and come to a consensus on how to better care for our patients,” says Chen of UConn Health who will receive the honor with his co-authors at the American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s annual meeting in Boston on October 30.

Chen adds: “I am grateful to be given this honor and feel that it is a testament to our interdisciplinary efforts to work towards advancing patient care and quality. I hope that this selection as a best paper will add to the recognition of the important findings in our study, and increase the dissemination of our recommendations in order to benefit patients.”