February 8, 2008

First Zook Endowed Chair Awarded to SIU Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Michael W. Neumeister, professor and chair of the plastic surgery division, has been named recipient of the Elvin G. Zook, M.D. Endowed Chair in Plastic Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.  SIU and Memorial Medical Center Foundation created an endowment fund to honor Zook’s 34-year career.  Over the last two years, $1 million has been raised for the fund in the MMC Foundation.  Interest earned from the endowment will be used for SIU plastic surgery resident education and research.

“An endowed chair is the highest honor that a University can bestow on a faculty member who has had a distinguished career in a particular field of study,” said Dr. Gary Dunnington, professor and chair of SIU’s surgery department.  “Dr. Zook has meant so much to our medical students, residents and faculty as well as to his patients and this community.  He has raised the bar in plastic surgery both nationally and internationally.”

For 32 years, Zook was chair of the plastic surgery division and plastic surgery residency program, both of which he founded at the SIU medical school.  He joined the SIU faculty in 1973 as the first plastic surgeon in central Illinois and stepped down from the chairmanship in June 2006.  He continues as a faculty member at SIU and regularly sees patients.  He helped train more than 50 plastic surgery residents, 20 microsurgery/hand fellows, 10 burn fellows and countless medical students.

Neumeister was named chair of SIU’s plastic surgery division in July 2006.  He has continued as director of the plastic surgery residency program and the microsurgery research laboratory at SIU and of the wound care center at Memorial Medical Center.  He first joined the SIU faculty in 1997, specializing in hand surgery and microsurgery.

Prior to joining SIU, Neumeister served a fellowship in hand and microsurgery at SIU’s Plastic Surgery Institute (1997).  He attended Harvard University’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston as a microsurgery fellow (1996).  He completed his residency in plastic surgery at Manitoba University in Winnipeg, Manitoba (1996) and his general surgery residency at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1993).  Neumeister earned his medical degree at the University of Toronto (1988) and bachelor’s in physiology/pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario (1984).

Neumeister is board certified in plastic surgery by both the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and the American Board of Plastic Surgeons.  His research interests include tissue engineering, the role of stem cells in reconstruction, ischemia reperfusion, peripheral nerve, and burn modulation.

His memberships include the Plastic Surgery Research Council, American Association for Hand Surgery, American Burn Association, American Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, American Society for Surgery of the Hand, Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery and American Association of Plastic Surgeons.

He has been elected to several national committees including the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery, the American Association for Surgery of the Hand, and the American Society of Plastic Surgery.  Neumeister is currently the vice-president of the Midwest Plastic Surgery Society and the chair of the Plastic Surgery Research Council.

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