Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery Fellowship

Dr. David Colen is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Yale School of Medicine who specializes in upper and lower extremity reconstruction. Dr. Colen is fellowship-trained in Hand Surgery and Microsurgery, and has a passion for treating a variety of congenital and acquired disorders of the hand and wrist as well as traumatic and oncologic defects of the extremities.Dr. Colen attended the University of Virginia where he obtained undergraduate degrees in Neuroscience and Spanish linguistics, as well as his Doctor of Medicine. He then matriculated into the integrated Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania, a program renowned for Reconstructive Microsurgery and Orthoplastic Surgery. At Penn, Dr. Colen was an active member of the Hand Transplantation Program who took part in three bilateral hand transplants, including the world's first and only bilateral pediatric hand transplant, during his tenure. Following residency, Dr. Colen completed a one-year fellowship in Hand and Microsurgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospitals at Harvard Medical School, where he focused on adult orthopedic and congenital pediatric hand surgery as well as reconstructive microsurgery of the extremities.Dr. Colen strives to obtain the best functional outcomes for his patients, and is committed to both patient care and the furthering of the field of reconstructive surgery through academic and clinical research. The author of various textbook chapters and research articles regarding hand and extremity reconstruction, Dr. Colen's research interests include optimizing outcomes following traumatic and congenital hand reconstruction and improving hand function after tendon injury or infection.

Dr. Donohue specializes in the entire spectrum of shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand disorders with a special interest in rotator cuff repair, shoulder replacement, upper extremity trauma, and complex conditions of the hand, wrist and elbow. He is one of only a few surgeons nationwide to have completed two separate clinical fellowships in upper extremity surgery. He performs minimally invasive procedures, and uses state-of-the-art arthroscopic techniques. Dr. Donohue enjoys caring for athletes of all levels and employs nonoperative treatment whenever possible.Dr. Donohue has authored multiple book chapters and journal articles on topics ranging from the treatment of wrist fractures in athletes to patient-specific shoulder and elbow replacement. His research has been presented nationally and internationally and has been published in leading orthopaedic journals including The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Dr. Donohue graduated from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He completed his orthopaedic residency at Drexel University followed by two fellowships in upper extremity surgery: a shoulder & elbow fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and a hand surgery fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine. After his fellowships, he traveled to the Mayo Clinic to gain additional experience in advanced elbow surgery. Dr. Donohue is an assistant professor of hand and upper extremity surgery at Yale School of Medicine and a member of the full-time clinical faculty in the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation.

Dr. Halim is a fellowship-trained hand surgeon. She specializes in pathology of the hand, wrist, and forearm. She is an Assistant Professor with the Orthopaedic Department of Yale University, where she treats patients for hand and wrist trauma, arthritis, nerve injury, and tendon pathology, and pursues her interests in teaching and research.She obtained her undergraduate degree from Yale University before going on to medical school at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. She returned to Yale for her Orthopaedic residency training, where she got involved in research including scaphoid nonunions and infections of the upper extremity. She then pursued further training at Brown University, where she worked with world-renowned upper extremity surgeons during her fellowship year.

Dr. Hill is an Assistant Professor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. She specializes in peripheral nerve and brachial plexus injury, and hand and upper limb reconstruction.Originally from the UK, Dr. Hill obtained her medical education and foundational research training at The University of Manchester in the UK. Her interest in nerve injury and recovery led her to undertake her Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery training at Washington University in St. Louis, under the leadership of nerve surgery pioneer Dr. Susan Mackinnon. She then sought international fellowship training in Microsurgery and Extremity Reconstruction at Oxford University in the U.K. at the Nuffield Orthopedic Hospital, and Brachial Plexus, Peripheral Nerve and Microsurgery with Dr. Jayme Bertelli, a prolific nerve surgeon and scientist, in Brazil. To further broaden her skills, she returned to Washington University in St. Louis and undertook an Orthopedic Hand & Microsurgery Fellowship, before beginning her career at Yale.Dr. Hills's surgical specialization is in management of complex nerve injuries and paralysis, such as peripheral nerve or brachial plexus trauma. Her practice includes care for compression neuropathies such as carpal tunnel, cubital tunnel, pronator syndrome, radial tunnel syndrome and thoracic outlet syndrome. She also cares for patients with upper or lower limb nerve injuries, offering reconstruction through combinations of nerve grafting, nerve transfers, tendon transfers and joint fusions. She is a strong advocate for collaboration with other disciplines, such as neurology, physiatry, orthopedics, and pain management, to deliver bespoke and cutting edge care for her patients. Dr. Hill has a particular clinical and research interest in nerve regeneration and surgical outcomes after nerve transfers for patients with paralysis of the upper limb, including in tetraplegia and spinal cord injury. She has collaborated internationally on the topic, and published extensively.Dr. Hill is also a passionate educator, with a PhD in surgical education from Maastricht University, a leading European center for medical education research and innovation. She has undertaken research into surgical culture and identity, and the underrepresentation of women in surgery, which has been published and presented internationally. She has maintained international research and education collaborations during her time in the USA, acting as a Ed.D supervisor at London South Bank University, and as a stipendiary lecturer of medicine at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University. She also engages in policy work, and participated in the Commission for Continuing Certification for the American Board of Medical Specialties (AMBS) and received a Distinguished Service Award for her contributions.

Dr. Lisa Lattanza is the Ensign Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the Yale School of Medicine. She obtained her medical degree at the Medical College of Ohio (now the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences). She did her internship at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, completed her residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Missouri Kansas City and did a fellowship in hand surgery at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons/Roosevelt Hospital. She did additional fellowship training in pediatric hand and upper extremity at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, Texas. She joined the faculty of UCSF in 1999. Although Lattanza treats all conditions and traumatic injuries in the upper extremity, she specializes in post-traumatic and congenital reconstruction for pediatric and adult elbow problems, treating patients from around the country and across the globe. She is a world- renowned leader in patient-specific 3D surgical planning and technology for deformity correction. She utilized her expertise in this area when she led a team to perform the first elbow-to-elbow transplant in the world in 2016, transplanting a patient’s left elbow into his right arm to give him one functioning extremity after a devastating accident. Using 3D computing, she also pioneered a new classification system and approach to the treatment of Chronic Monteggia Fracture Dislocations in children. Lattanza frequently travels to Nicaragua and other countries on mission trips to perform hand surgery and is eager to expand upon the global initiatives already in place in the department. Lattanza’s research interests include 3D surgical planning for deformity correction, elbow instability and other post-traumatic elbow conditions in children and adults, and diversity in orthopaedic surgery, specifically the underrepresentation of women. When she began her appointment at the School of Medicine in September 2019, she became one of only two current female chairs of orthopaedics in the U.S. In 2009, she co-founded the Perry Outreach Program to increase exposure of high school girls to orthopaedic surgery and biomechanical engineering. Now known as the Perry Initiative, the program is named after Lattanza’s mentor, Jacquelin Perry, MD, who was one of the first women orthopaedic surgeons in the country. It began with 18 high school girls in San Francisco and has now reached over 17,000 high school, college, and medical students across the country. Lattanza’s research has shown that young women who complete the program are applying and matching to orthopaedic surgery residencies at a rate of about 24%, compared to the national average of about 14%. Her goal is to reach 30% within the next three years. Lattanza has received numerous awards for both her clinical care and outreach efforts. She received UCSF’s Compassionate Physician award in 2013 and Exceptional Physician Award in 2014, the Jefferson Award for Community Service in 2014, and has been ranked by her peers as a Bay Area Top Physician for multiple years. In addition, she received the Diversity Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 2021. She was also chosen as the Medical University of Ohio Distinguished Alumni in 2024. In addition to her other leadership roles, she served as president of the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society in 2017 and is active in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, and the American Orthopaedic Association.

Dr. Xuan Luo is a fellowship-trained hand and upper extremity surgeon.  He specializes in disorders of the shoulder, elbow, forearm wrist and hand.  He has a particular interest in resident education and surgical training.He did his undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he double matriculated in Biology and Biochemistry Magna Cum Laude, and was a Vagelos Life Science Scholar.  He went onto medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine where he was Alpha Omega Alpha and won the Martin L. Loeb Memorial Prize for best student in surgery.  He went onto orthopedic residency at the Harvard Combined Orthopedic Residency, where he won the Harvard Medical School resident teaching award, and also the best Thesis Day paper award.  He continued his training at the Harvard Hand/Upper Extremity Surgery Fellowship.  Since joining Yale he has been award the Exceptional Teaching Award in 2022 and is on the GME Wellbeing Committee.Dr. Luo has a particular interest in surgical training and teaching and the well being of the residents he mentors. Fellowship:  Harvard Hand/Upper Extremity Fellowship (Brigham and Women's and Boston Children's Hospital)Residency:  Harvard Combined Orthopedic Residency (Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and Boston Children's Hospital)Medical School:  Tufts University School of MedicineUndergraduate:  University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Angie Paik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She is fellowship-trained in hand and microsurgery with a clinical focus on upper and lower extremity reconstruction and gender affirmation surgery. Her additional interests include aesthetic surgery and body contouring. Dr. Paik attended Cornell University for her undergraduate degree, majoring in biological sciences. She attained her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School where she also served as a Research Fellow with their Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She completed her Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training at Brown University – a program offering a robust trauma experience and hands-on aesthetic training. Following residency, she pursued a Hand and Microsurgery fellowship at The Buncke Clinic in San Francisco, California, one of the leading microsurgery centers in the country. During fellowship, she gained experience in a wide array of complex reconstruction following burn, trauma, and malignancy as well as training in the phalloplasty procedure from leaders in the field. Dr. Paik has a commitment to providing quality surgical care to her patients. She has published in peer-reviewed journals, has contributed book chapters, and has presented nationally. In addition to her clinical practice, she also remains dedicated to teaching and mentorship.

Dr. Adnan Prsic is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is a fellowship-trained hand surgeon who specializes in disorders of the hand, wrist, and forearm caused by congenital differences or trauma. Dr. Prsic has a unique training background with both Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well as advanced training in the care of the upper extremity at an Orthopaedic Hand Surgery Fellowship.He attended Bowdoin College and Harvard Medical School. His love of New England led him to Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Training at New England’s oldest plastic surgery residency at Brown University. In search of complete training of the hand and upper extremity Dr. Prsic joined the University of Washington Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine as a hand and microsurgery fellow. There he trained with leaders in hand surgery and focused on traumatic injuries as well as acquired and congenital complex hand and wrist problems. His training was completed at Harborview Medical Center, one of the busiest trauma hospitals in the United States. At Harborview Medical Center he also became a research fellow in the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) and studied brachial plexus injuries. He has authored several book chapters and research studies on traumatic injuries of the hand.  Dr. Prsic’s research interests are in hand trauma, 3D printed medical devices and medical education. He is a dedicated and passionate medical educator and was recognized with prestigious awards like the Alpha Omega Alpha and The Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award

Rey Ramirez is an academic hand surgeon with interest in pediatric hand surgery. He was born in Los Angeles and moved to New Haven in 2022.

Dr. Swigart trained in orthopedics at Yale-New Haven Hospital and did her hand fellowship at the CV Starr Hand Surgery Center at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City (now Mt. Sinai West). She returned to Yale after her fellowship and has been on faculty since 1997. She is currently an associate professor in the department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation and the section chief of hand and upper extremity surgery. Dr. Swigart sees patients of all ages for a wide variety of issues related to their hands, wrists and arms. These include traumatic injuries, workplace injuries, degenerative conditions and nerve compression syndromes. Areas of particular interest include Dupuytren's disease, thumb basal joint arthritis and wrist injury. Although patients may require surgery, other treatment options are often available and these may include hand therapy, splinting and steroid injection. "I believe in engaging the patient as an active participant in their care whenever possible. An engaged patient will always have an improved outcome no matter the treatment choice."

Dr. J. Grant Thomson, a Board-Certified Hand Surgeon and a Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon, is deeply interested in helping children and adults with congenital and acquired hand and upper extremity issues, and individuals whose bodies have been changed by cancer treatment. Dr. Thomson earned his medical degree from McGill University in 1983. He specializes in hand, wrist, and upper extremity surgery. Dr. Thomson's special interests include endoscopic carpal tunnel release, trigger finger treatment, Dupuytren’s contracture, arthritic hand reconstruction, brachial plexus reconstruction, peripheral nerve surgery, occupational disorders of the upper extremity, and trauma-related pain. His clinical practice also includes reconstructive microsurgery. He uses his expertise to reach across borders to children and adults in developing countries. Since 1998, Dr. Thomson has been leading groups of professionals on volunteer surgical expeditions, and these teams have affected the lives of over 800 individuals. His research interests include flap physiology, microsurgery, tendon repair, and breast reconstruction.