Urmen Desai

Urmen Desai is a celebrity plastic surgeon, professor, and social media influencer. He currently serves as the president and chief executive officer of Desai Plastic Surgery and Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Based in Beverly Hills, California, Desai is a double-fellowship trained surgeon who has pioneered reconstructive aesthetic plastic surgery. He is known for using social handles to reach the audience looking for plastic surgery. 
Desai is double-board certified and specializes in treating congenital deformities in children and is known for his skills in craniofacial surgeries. He has authored and drafted 7 textbook chapters and his 14 peer-reviewed journals have been published in journals such as The Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (JPRAS), The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery and The Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
He has received several awards for his work in the field of reconstructive surgeries including M.D. Surgical Research Award 2014 and Stryker International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission in November 2013 to name a few. Desai’s research in plastic surgery has been often covered and published in national and international news outlets like CNN, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, Nightline and Good Morning America.
Desai is often seen at the conferences and meetings on the topics of aesthetic plastic surgery , reconstructive aesthetic plastic surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, and related topics.
==Early life and education==
Desai was born on 14 September 1976 in Beverly Hills, California. He was raised in a suburb outside Boston in Newton, Massachusetts. His parents had a background in nursing and owned a nursing home. His early life experiences with his parents' work made him inclined towards treating patients and developed his interest in medicine.
During high school, Desai had an interest in athletics and played varsity lacrosse. He has done pre-college coursework from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then pursued MPH, Health Policy and Management from Harvard University. Desai completed Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Surgery from Tufts University School of Medicine.
==Career==
Desai completed his high school from MIT and studied honors in neurosciences from New York. During his college days he was selected as a competing candidate for the research program at NASA in Cape Canaveral, Florida. He has worked with The World Health Organization (WHO) in India at their New Delhi office. He got his degree in health policy from Harvard University and his MD degree from Tufts University.
Desai has a double board certification and has completed a double-fellowship training in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic surgery. During his career, he has worked at Manhattan-New York City, Beverly Hills, and Miami Beach, which are known as plastic surgery hubs.
He completed his residency training while working with Harvard Medical School, Tufts Medical Center and Brown Medical School. During this time he was also conducting research in the department of Plastic Surgery at Children’s Hospital – Harvard Medical School in Boston analyzing and studying about the congenital deformities in children and the applications in Craniofacial Surgery.
During his second residency training from the University of Miami, Florida, Desai was selected for the Advanced Aesthetic Plastic Surgery coveted fellowship by the Beverly Hills Institute of Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills, California.
Desai currently holds a position as an Academic Professor at Columbia University and Cedars Sinai medical centers.
==Membership and appointments==
He has worked with various organizations and is an active member of the International College of Surgeons, Los Angeles Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons and American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
==Philanthropy==
Desai has credited his childhood as an inspiration to help under-privileged children. He is seen volunteering for deprived section of the society. During his high school days, he had worked in rural Ecuador to build a school-house for them. On a medical trip to rural China during his 4th year he helped in performing cleft palate and cleft lip surgeries in a camp which helped him in gaining clarity in pursuing a career path as a plastic surgeon.
After completing his college degree, he has also volunteered in Kolkata at Mother Teresa’s Missionary’s leprosy camp. After the 2005 tsunami, he has also worked on the island of Koh Phi Phi, Thailand.
Desai had intended to give and help the society, and after the Haiti earthquake, he flew to Port-au-Prince on several occasions to help with pediatric surgeries and palate reconstruction for children. He has been a strong advocate to help the underdeveloped world and has lectured at the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgery Course to raise awareness about it.
==Awards==
===2004===
* Massachusetts Medical Society International Travel Grant [Chengdu, China]
* Tufts University School of Medicine Bernard Berman Travel Grant.
* Tufts University School of Medicine honors in Pharmacology, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, International Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (Cleft Lip & Cleft Palate project in South-West China)
===2007===
* Stryker Educational Grant Recipient to attend a Problem Solving in Skull Base Surgery Course. Washington D.C., [November 3]
* First Place, selected by Dr. J. Regan Thomas, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. [December 8]
===2012===
* Synthes International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission to Haiti. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. December 
* Stryker International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission to Haiti. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. December 
* The Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation (ASERF) Travel Grant to the 2012 American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Meeting in Vancouver BC, May 3-9
===2013===
* Stryker International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission to Haiti. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. November
* Synthes International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission to Haiti. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. June 
* Stryker International Travel Grant for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Mission to Haiti. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. June
===2014===
* Finalist Alan S. Livingstone, M.D. Surgical Research Award
==Personal life==
Desai is an athlete and has participated in the New York and the Boston Marathon. He also played varsity lacrosse and was an NCAA collegiate rower during his college days.
==References==
==External links==
* Official website
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Category:People from Newton, Massachusetts
Category:Plastic surgeons
Category:Social media influencers
Category:American people
Category:University of Miami alumni