The Team > Physicians

DR. JAMES C. BOYLE, B.Sc. DFRCS (C) Medical Director, BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Unit at Vancouver Hospital Clinical Associate Professor Research & Surgery, UBC

Patients admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit at Vancouver General Hospital are under the care of an attending plastic surgeon. These surgeons are responsible for daily patient management, including ordering of tests, medications and surgeries. If necessary they will consult on other specialties to assist in the total care of the burn patient.

There are eight plastic surgeons working at our Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit. This dedicated group of surgeons is committed to excellence in patient care and surgical teaching.

Following their residency training, many of our surgeons complete additional years of sub-specialty training in areas such as burn surgery, hand surgery, and microsurgery. The demands of the plastic surgeon are considerable and therefore, the responsibility of the patient is often shared with other plastic surgeons on staff.

To become a plastic surgeon, a physician must complete five years of residency training following medical school. Currently, there are nine energetic and enthusiastic plastic surgery residents in our VGH Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit residency-training program.

Our residents cover Vancouver General Hospital, UBC Hospital, BC Children's & St. Paul's Hospital in addition to multiple hospital based sub specialty clinics and private large volume cosmetic clinics. Depending on the number of years of training, these individuals have varying levels of responsiblity.

For the most part, residents are responsible for admitting patients to the hospital, assisting with surgeries, following up with patients during daily rounds, and day-to-day operations. Therefore it is often the plastic surgery residents that the patients get to know the best.

The Division of Plastic Surgery is based on the practices of 25 plastic surgeons at the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, St. Paul's Hospital, and British Columbia's Children's Hospital. http://www.surgery.ubc.ca/plasticsurg.html The Division is responsible for the training of medical students and plastic surgical residents. One or two Plastic Surgeons graduate each year. We now also train one or two Plastic Surgery Fellows each year. Plastic Surgery is a very diverse field and includes the following: hand surgery, burn care, facial trauma, post cancer and post trauma reconstruction, breast surgery, microsurgery genitourinary reconstruction, major congenital anomalies including cleft lip and palate and craniofacial as well as cosmetic surgery of the face and body.