| Curriculum
vitae
Françoise
FIRMIN was born in 1942 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Her French parents settled in this country which at that time was
a French Protectorate.
When she was 16 years old she came to France to complete secondary
studies and medical studies at the “Faculté de Médecine
de Paris”.
She started
her residency in Plastic Surgery in 1967 at the Hôpital Foch
with Paul TESSIER.
From 1968 to 1972, she spent each year in a different University
Hospital in Paris with Professor AUBRY, Professor CERNEA, Professor
MOREL FATIO, Professor DUFOURMENTEL and Professor PETIT.
She then completed a fellowship with Professor CONVERSE in New York
University Medical Centre. That year was of great value, not only
professionally but also personally, because it allowed her to establish
great friendships with Jo McCARTHY, Sam HAMRA, Henry KAWAMOTO and
others who at that time were residents in the same department.
Coming back
to Paris she was senior registrar in Plastic Surgery with Professor
MOREL FATIO for two years (1972 – 1973).
She was a contributor to the annual report of the French Society
of Plastic Surgeons (SOFCPRE): “Lateral Osteotomies in rhinoplasty”
in 1972.
Françoise Firmin then spent one year as a consultant in Plastic
Surgery with Professor BIENAIME, performing paediatric plastic surgery
with Dr MALEK.
In 1974, Paul TESSIER, being President of the French Society, decided
to investigate what he called the “ Facial SMAS”. He
entrusted several of his trainees to research a particular region.
The frontal and orbital area were studied by H. QUILICHINI, the
cervical area by THION, the parotid and cheek area by V. MITZ and
M. PEYRONIE and the nose by F. FIRMIN and J. LEPESTEUR.
The investigative results were presented at the meeting of the French
Society of Plastic Surgeons in October 1974 under the title of:
“Le SMAS facial”.
For two years
(1976 – 1977) she was Senior Registrar with Professor BANZET
in Hôpital SAINT LOUIS.
In 1977 she
went into full time private practice performing breast reconstructions,
general plastic surgery and aesthetic surgery.
In 1985, Paul
TESSIER understood her interest in ear reconstructions and started
to send her patients.
Before entering in this new field, she went to visit Burt BRENT
(1985) in San Francisco. She then started to perform ear reconstructions
regularly.
In 1988 she was principal editor, in collaboration with Bernard
RAPHAEL, of a report on “Ear Reconstruction” presented
on the annual meeting of the French Society of Plastic Surgeons
(SOFCPRE).
Since that time her interest on this subject constantly increased.
She now performs an average of 150 cases of ear reconstructions
per year.
Many patients presenting with microtia often have other facial anomalies.
To address this issue she founded a multi disciplinary group called
D.A.M.M.A (Dystrophie Auricolo Mandibulaire et Malformations Associees)
allowing a number of specialists: (Doctors ARNAUD, COQUILLE, COUTURAUD,
DINER, GUICHARD, GUERIN, JULIEN, KATZ, LABBE, PRINC) to manage these
difficult cases.
She was President of the”Société Française
de Chirurgie Plastique, Reconstructrice et Esthétique”(SOFCPRE)
in 2001. The theme of the report that year was “Dysplasie
Otomandibulaire” and she wrote two chapters on ear reconstruction.
She has been
an active member of the EURAPS from its beginning and a member of
the Council in 1993.
She won the Prize of the Best Clinical Paper at the EURAPS 1995.
She has made
numerous presentations on breast reconstruction and ear reconstruction
as well as publications on the same subjects.
Françoise
FIRMIN was visiting professor in:
- Singapore
in 1998
- Philadelphia
in 2002 where she gave the “IVY lecture”
- New York
in 2002 where she gave the “Kazanjian lecture”
- Miami in
2006 where she gave the “Millard lecture”
She performed
live surgery during several meetings (France, Germany, Israel, Italy
and Spain).
And being invited by local Plastic Surgeons, she operated many patients
in their own country (Australia, Bahrain, Bolivia, Italy, Finlay,
Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).
She is still
very active in her private practice at the Clinique BIZET in Paris
where she welcomes and teaches many visitors.
Her main interests
at the present time are ear reconstruction and the development of
a new technology, based on ultrasounds called “Harmonic scalpel”.
Currently she is working closely with the engineers who are adapting
new instruments to be used in the field of Plastic Surgery.
Her husband
is a urologist. In fact he was the one who convinced her to explore
the application of this new technology in Plastic Surgery as he
had been using it for many years.
She has two
children, neither one of whom has entered the medical field…
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