Plastic Surgery Videos Texas

Dr. Buckingham:
Hi, I'm Dr. Ed Buckingham and I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. It's a little bit uncomfortable, kind of telling you my life story and talking about my achievements. I kind of feel like I'm bragging about myself, but people tell me that my patients really want to know who I am, what my achievements are, what my expertise is, so that they can have a comfort level with me and understand why I'm qualified to take care of them. So, I'm going to go ahead and give you a shot at that and I'll probably start with just my undergraduate training.

So, I completed my undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. I initially received an Accounting Degree, so a Bachelor's in Business Administration and Accounting, as that's what I thought I wanted to do. I took a job with Coopers and Lybrand which was a big six accounting firm in Austin, Texas at the time, and actually practiced accounting for about a year. It only took me about six months, though, to realize that accounting wasn't going to be intellectually or physically stimulating enough to keep me interested for life and that I needed to find another career. So, after much thought, I decided that medical school may meet my goals and so I elected to go to medical school. Unfortunately, I also found out that I needed to complete some pre-medical requirements before I could actually get into medical school and so I went back to the University of Texas at Austin and completed all of my pre-medical coursework over the course of a summer, a spring, a fall and a summer, which if you're familiar with medical school training, that's a really short period of time, but having been out in the real world and worked fifty-five hours a week, school seemed a little bit easier the second time around. So in doing that, I was able to achieve a perfect 4.0 grade point average on all of my pre-medical requirements, which was sufficient enough to get me into medical school and after interviewing at different places, I decided that University of Texas medical branch in Galveston would be the place for me.

So I went to medical school at the University of Texas medical branch at Galveston. During medical school, I was elected to junior AOA or Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, which in order to be elected to that society as a junior you had to be one of the top ten students in your medical school class. At that time, I served the Vice-President for that organization and later in my senior year of medical school, I served as the President of that organization. Upon completing medical school, I made a decision to pursue a career in surgery and I decided that surgery of the head and neck was the area that interested me the most. So, having said that, I elected to pursue a residency in otolaryngology, which is commonly known as ear, nose and throat surgery. I traveled around the country and interviewed at many programs in otolaryngology, but I came to believe that the program that was at Galveston was one of the best in the country. At that time, it was chaired by an individual named Ron Bailey who wrote the Bailey's Text Book of Otolaryngology, was a real master, was recognized in the world. It was an unbelievable opportunity for me to train with someone of his caliber. So, I spent the next five years training in head and neck surgery in Galveston; taking care of people with very complex issues related to all structures of the head and neck.

During my residency, I served on the Graduate Medical Education Advisory Committee, as well as held other offices and was nominated to be the overall outstanding resident of the University of Texas Medical Branch. It was a real honor and I really enjoyed my time at that program. During my residency in otolaryngology, I became even more interested in facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. And so therefore, I elected, following my residency, to pursue a fellowship in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. Once again, I traveled all over the county and went to many different programs and I found one that fit my personality and what I was looking for with Dr. Ed Williams in Albany, New York with the Albany Medical Center. So following my five years in otolaryngology, I moved to Albany, New York and spent a one year stint with Dr. Williams - really focusing my skills on cosmetic surgery of the face and neck and reconstructive surgery of the face and neck; primarily relating to skin cancer which is what I really practice now. During my fellowship, I completed research and other things related to facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. And then following my fellowship, I sat for the board exam for the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and I scored the highest written score in the country on that examination and was honored as one of the two people for the distinguished award related to that.

Following that fellowship and achieving my board certification, I came to Austin, Texas and set up my practice, which we've been in this location for several years now and have been enjoying our time in Austin. In continuing with my educational goals related to facial plastic and reconstructive surgery, I currently sit on both the oral and written examination committees for the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, which means that I write questions for the board exams both oral and written, as well as review oral and written questions which later are given to young physicians who are trying to achieve board certification in this specialty. I'm also an active member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and sit on a committee of social and regulatory economics and I'm asked to lecture around the country regarding things such as nasal reconstruction and facial lipo transfer.

I really enjoy my time both as a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Austin and contributing to the greater education of the specialty throughout the country. We hope you'll come and see us.

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