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D Ralph Millard, Jr. - Plastic Surgeon Of The Millennium
Dr. Millard is considered as "Plastic Surgeon of the Millennium" by the American Society of Plastic Surgery. Today, Dr. Millard remains the most brilliant and creative legend, a source of inspiration to all the present and future generations of plastic surgeons.
Know the Ideal, Beautiful, Normal . . . .
-D. Ralph Millard, Jr., M.D.
David Ralph Millard, Jr. was born at St. Louis, Missouri on June 4, 1919.He received his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School in 1944 and interned in pediatric surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital in1945. Dr. Millard served in the U.S. Navy from 1945-1946 as a plastic surgeon and following the War, served as an assistant resident in general surgery at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee from 1946-1947. During 1948-1949, Dr. Millard was trained under Sir Harold Delf Gillies ‘The God Father of Plastic Surgery’’.After his postgraduate training , Dr. Millard served as an assistant resident in plastic surgery in 1949 at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, St. Louis and later completed his training as a fellow in plastic surgery at the Straith Clinic in Detroit. In 1951, Dr. Millard served as the senior resident in plastic surgery at Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston, Texas returned to England in 1952 to co-author “ The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery” with Sir Harold Gillies which was published in 1957. In this two-volume work, Gillies and Millard “outlined 16 principles which not only applied to plastic surgery problems but had a basis in a more general way to a philosophy of life.” Dr. Millard became a member of the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1954 and served as Chief Plastic Surgeon to the U.S. Marine Corps“in the Korean Conflict from 1954-1955.During this period, he perfected the rotation advancement cleft lip surgery that made him world famous. Dr. Millard later started his career teaching at the University of Miami in 1956 and became a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1958. In 1967, Dr. Millard became Clinical Professor and named Chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at the School of Medicine and became the first Light-Millard Professor of Plastic Surgery in 1974, a position he holds to this day. He was also named Visiting Professor of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Visiting Professor of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine He became an honorary member of the New England Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and in 1974, the D. Ralph Millard, Jr., M.D. Plastic Surgery Society was formed. In 1976, Dr. Millard’s landmark book” Cleft Craft: the Evolution of its Surgery: I.-The Unilateral Deformity” was published. Volume I was followed by volume 2, Bilateral and Rare Deformities, published in 1977, and by volume 3, Alveolar and Palatal Deformities, published in 1980. Dr. Millard worked on this trilogy two hours each day, and 14 hours each weekend for twelve years. The three volumes, which continue as the definitive work on cleft lip and palate, maintained the excellent standards for pre- and post-operative photographs, illustrations, historical descriptions, and portraits of the pioneers in cleft palate surgery established in the two-volume The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery. Together, these five volumes established Dr. Millard’s reputation as one of the greatest authorities in the entire field of plastic surgery.
Dr.Millard became a trustee of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons from 1979-1981. For his pioneering techniques for correcting cleft lips and many other procedures. He was given the Asheville Award in 1979 and the 1981 Honorary Award of the Association of Plastic Surgeons, the highest honor of this elite organization. For “Distinguished Contributions to Cleft Palate Habilitation,” he was given the Florida Cleft Palate Honors Award in 1979 and was nominated to the Wisdom Hall of Fame of the Wisdom Society for the Advancement of Knowledge and Research in Education, Beverly Hills, California.Dr. Millard was awarded a U.S. patent in 1979 for his improvised mouth gag for cleft palate repair.Dr. Millard served as Vice-President, President-elect, and President of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons from 1982-85.In 1986, Dr. Millard published “ Principlization of Plastic Surgery”, a successor to “The Principles and Art of Plastic Surgery” in which the original 16 principles were modified and expanded into 33 principles. These principles not only applied to plastic surgery problems but also had basis applicability in a more general way to the philosophy of life. In 1988, Dr. Millard received the highest award of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons in recognition of “his development of the specialty of plastic surgery and his outstanding scientific contributions to the advancement of its practice.” He received an Honorary Medal from the People’s Republic of China for “his monumental achievements in cleft lip repair which opened a new era of cleft lip surgery”. Dr. Millard was given honorary membership in the British Association of Plastic Surgeons and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, London in 1990. He received the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award of the University of Miami and a bronze bust was placed in the Miami Children’s Hospital Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1992, he received the Dieffenbach award at Humbolt University, Berlin and in 1993, Dr. Millard received the Hunterian Professor award, given to members of the Royal College of Surgeons, England.Until his retirement in 2000, Dr. Millard was chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. He published four monographs in addition to 202 articles published throughout his career. After a brilliant career spanning fifty years, in 2000, Dr. Millard was nominated as “Plastic Surgeon of the Millennium” by the members of the American Society of Plastic Surgery. Today, Dr. Millard remains the most brilliant and creative legend, a source of inspiration to all the present and future generations of plastic surgeons.