Plastic Surgery resident wins prestigious research award a second time
Dr. Michael Lynch, middle, with Dr. Bruce Mast, Glancy Competition Chair and Dr. Henry Vasconez,
SESPRS President and Chief of UK Plastic Surgery
A University of Kentucky plastic surgery resident won the coveted Glancy Award for an unprecedented second time at the 58th annual scientific meeting of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (SESPRS) at Amelia Island, Florida earlier in June. The win is the fourth time the Glancy Cup gets to reside at the University of Kentucky since the award’s inception in 1977.
Michael P. Lynch, MD, a sixth-year chief resident in Plastic Surgery, first won the Glancy Award at the SESPRS scientific meeting in 2013. It was an honor simply to be selected to compete for the award this year, Lynch said. The last thing he expected was to win it again.
“Competition for the award is extremely intense. Several dozen abstracts are submitted from colleagues representing resident programs all across the southeast,” Lynch commented. From those abstracts, a committee selected eight as finalists for full presentations at the scientific meeting.
Lynch was the lead author of the study, “The Effects of Body Mass Index on Adipose-Derived Stem Cells,” in which he collaborated with Dr. Krishna Vyas and Dr. Henry Vasconez, chief of the UK Department of Plastic Surgery.
The residency competition and Glancy Award were established by General Alfred Robinson Glancy, a former vice president of General Motors, as a gesture of gratitude for medical services that SESPRS member Billy Huger, MD, of Atlanta provided to him. The award is presented annually to the resident judged to have presented the best paper in the competition. The award comes in the form of the The Glancy Cup which is etched with the winning physician’s name and displayed at the physician’s resident institution for the next year.
During competition, each competing resident is given exactly seven minutes to make their presentation. The time, marked by a green, yellow and red light, goes very quickly so preparation and practice are key, Lynch said in an interview afterward. A general question and answer period follows after all the competing residents have finished their presentations.
Preparing for the competition was made somewhat complicated because he and Vyas were still compiling data within a day or so of the annual meeting, Lynch said.
“There is just no way to understate Dr. Vyas’ contribution to the study. He was huge in getting the data organized for the presentation,” Lynch commented.
“I am especially happy and proud of this most recent award since it was a joint project with me and happened during my Presidency of SESPRS,” Vasconez commented. “Winning the award once is remarkable. Dr. Lynch won it from the society twice – a veritable feat.”
Dr. Bruce Mast, chief of Plastic Surgery at the University of Florida, chaired the Glancy Award committee for SESPRS this year. The residency programs that have previously held the Glancy Cup include the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, Wake Forest, the University of Virginia, and Duke University among many others.
At the conclusion of his residency, Lynch will join a private practice in Lexington beginning this fall.
Contact: Josh Shepherd jwshep2@uky.edu
