A groundbreaking surgery was completed 20 years ago. The first partial face transplant was performed by a team of doctors in France on Isabelle Dinoire, a French woman who was mauled on the face by her pet dog after an overdose of sleeping pills in May 2005.
Polish transplant surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow paid close attention to the moment – she ended up performing the first such surgery in the U.S. three years later.
Siemionow, professor of orthopedics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, joins host Scott Tong to look back on the moment.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2025 WBUR
