Dr. Joseph G. McCarthy, a native New Englander and Harvard graduate, earned his medical degree at Columbia University in 1964. During the next seven years, he completed his general surgery training at Columbia, as well as serving two years in the United States Public Health Service. In 1973, he graduated from plastic surgery residency at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (IRPS), New York University Medical Center, and joined the faculty under the mentorship of the late John Marquis Converse. Since 1981, Dr. McCarthy has been the Lawrence D. Bell Professorship of Plastic Surgery and Director of the Institute.
Dr. McCarthy has been instrumental in the development of modern craniofacial surgery through his tireless efforts and fundamental accomplishments in surgical innovation, education and research. As Director of the IRPS, has trained over 100 plastic surgery residents and twenty-five craniofacial fellows. One of the founding members of both the International and the American Societies of Craniofacial Surgery, Dr. McCarthy has served as President of the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons, the New York Regional Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, and the American Society of Craniofacial Surgery. He has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Craniofacial Biology, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Plastic Surgery Outlook. In addition to his prolific list of contributions to the peer-reviewed literature, Dr. McCarthy was Assistant Editor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (1977), Editor of the eight-volume core text, Plastic Surgery (1990), as well as Editor of Distraction of the Craniofacial Skeleton (1999) and Current Plastic Surgery Therapy (2005). He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction since 1981 and The Smile Train since 1999. His national and international awards and invited lectures are numerous.
A dedicated champion of the cause of patients with facial deformity, Dr. McCarthy is a gentleman, scholar and leader. He stands as a role model for present and future generations of plastic surgeons.
