Maria Siemionow (US)

Maria Siemionow, MD, PhD, DSc, is an internationally recognized surgeon-scientist specializing in microsurgery, reconstructive transplantation, peripheral nerve surgery, and regenerative medicine. She received her medical degree from the Poznań Medical Academy in 1974, completed orthopedic residency training and earned a PhD in 1985 for her work on microsurgical vessel anastomosis. She further completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Christine Kleinert Institute for Hand and Microsurgery in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1992, she obtained a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree for research on microcirculation in free muscle flaps. Dr. Siemionow has held numerous academic leadership roles across leading U.S. Institutions. She was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah in 1990. From 1995 to 2013, she served at the Cleveland Clinic as Director of Plastic Surgery Research and Head of Microsurgical Training and was promoted to Professor of Surgery in 2005 at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Case Western Reserve University. Since 2014, she has been Professor of Orthopaedics and Director of Microsurgery Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on reducing immunosuppression in transplantation, enhancing nerve regeneration, and developing innovative therapies for muscular dystrophies. She is a pioneer in reconstructive transplantation and led the team that performed the first near-total face transplant in the United States in 2008, following her earlier achievement of securing world’s first Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for a facial transplantation protocol in 2004. Her landmark work was published in The Lancet. Dr. Siemionow has made significant contributions to translational medicine. In 2017, she founded Dystrogen Therapeutics, where she serves as Chief Medical Officer and leads the development of Dystrophin-Expressing Chimeric (DEC) cell therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, including first-in-human clinical studies. She holds multiple internationally recognized patents in neural regeneration and chimeric cell technologies and continues advancing next-generation multi-chimeric therapies. She has authored over 340 peer-reviewed publications, edited four textbooks and two popular science books, and contributed more than 100 book chapters. She serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and is an active reviewer in her field. A recognized leader in professional societies, Dr. Siemionow is a past president of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation, the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society, and the American Society for Peripheral Nerve. She also contributes to the Warrior Restoration Consortium under the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Her work has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Folkert Belzer Award, the Cleveland Clinic Research Excellence Award, and major U.S. honors such as the American Association of Plastic Surgeons Clinical Researcher of the Year and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Special Achievement Award. She has also received the Polish Order of Merit and the Commander’s Cross of Polonia Restituta. Additional honors include the Carnegie Foundation Great Immigrants Award, multiple honorary doctorates, and the Inventor of the Year Award from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2025). Dr. Siemionow’s work has been widely featured in major media, reflecting her global impact on transplantation and regenerative medicine.