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The Pomahac Laboratory
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INFORMATION FOR

Principal Investigator

  • Bohdan Pomahac, MD

    Frank F. Kanthak Professor of Surgery (Plastics); Chief, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery; Professor, Surgery

    Research Interests
    • Plastic Surgery Procedures
    Dr. Bohdan Pomahac is Division Chief of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Pomahac joined the Yale Surgery and Smilow Cancer Hospital community from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he was the Roberta and Stephen R. Weiner Distinguished Chair in Surgery and Director of Vascular Composite Allograft Transplantation program. A pioneer in his field, Dr. Pomahac’s team performed the first three full-face transplant procedures in the United States, and the first successful bilateral upper extremity transplantation in the Northeast. Dr. Pomahac made Brigham and Women’s Hospital the world leader in vascularized composite transplantation completing 10 face and 3 bilateral hand transplants. Dr. Pomahac’s expertise adds to a growing portfolio of destination programs in the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Yale, which has grown into a multidisciplinary enterprise—with novel programs across Connecticut, including wound healing, craniofacial surgery, melanoma treatment, targeted muscle reinnervation, breast reconstruction, and cutting-edge research in machine learning and 3D printing. Most recently, Yale became just one of the first 5 centers in the USA that acquired Symani microsurgery robot to expand our footprint in super-microsurgery and lymphatic surgery.
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Postdoctoral Fellows

Research Fellows, Visiting Researchers & Students

  • Stanislav Sobol
    Stanislav Sobol is an MD candidate and a Visiting Assistant in Research (VAR) who is assisting in on-going experiments and developing novel projects under the auspices of Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, MD in the Department of Surgery – Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. Current work focuses on: - Extended ex-vivo perfusion with per fluorocarbon-based AOCs in limb transplantation - Perfusion of RNA nano therapeutics for vascularized composite allotransplantation immunosuppression - Retrospective analyses of graft and vascularized composite allotransplantation data
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  • Dana Gabriela Youssef, BSc (Hon)
    Research Interests
    • Surgery, Plastic
    • Transplantation
    • Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation
    Dana Youssef is an MD student and doctoral candidate at the University of Freiburg, Germany, with a research focus at the intersection of reconstructive surgery, transplantation, and molecular medicine. Her academic journey began at the University of Indianapolis, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology, minors in Chemistry and Psychology, and a perfect 4.0 GPA while serving as a soccer student-athlete and team captain. She subsequently pursued medical training at the University of Freiburg and conducted doctoral research in molecular oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, investigating mechanisms of cancer biology. She also completed graduate coursework at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, further strengthening her background in biomedical research. Dana is currently a Visiting Assistant in Research at Yale School of Medicine in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery under the mentorship of Professor Bohdan Pomahac. Her work focuses on vascularized composite allotransplantation, chronic graft rejection, ex vivo organ perfusion, and the development of novel biomarkers to improve transplant outcomes. She is actively involved in both experimental and clinical research and is leading multiple systematic reviews while contributing to translational laboratory studies. Her long-term career goal is to become an academic plastic and reconstructive surgeon-scientist specializing in breast reconstruction, microsurgery, transplantation, and regenerative medicine. She is particularly interested in translating discoveries from molecular biology and immunology into innovative surgical therapies that improve patient outcomes.
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