Susan E Mackinnon

Susan E. Mackinnon (born ) is a Canadian plastic and reconstructive surgeon who is a pioneer in the field of peripheral nerve transfer and regeneration. She performed the world's first nerve allotransplantation in 1988. She is a past president of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, the Plastic Surgery Research Council, and the American Association of Hand Surgery. As of 2022, she is the Minot Packer Fryer Professor of Plastic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, United States.

Early life and education Mackinnon was born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada. She was one of two children, with a younger sister. Mackinnon's mother also had a college degree, leading to high expectations for both Susan and her sister. She complete two years of pre-medical education and then entered directly into the Queens University Medical School to complete both her undergraduate degree and medical school in a total of 6 years.

Mackinnon then moved to Toronto to complete the rest of her residency training in plastic surgery at the University of Toronto Medical School, where she developed an interest in microsurgery and tissue transplantation. After her residency, she completed her fellowship training in neurosurgery at the University of Toronto in 1981 and then completed another year-long fellowship training experience in hand surgery at the Raymond Curtis Hand Center at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Through her work, she developed a method that enabled surgeons to use absorbable conduits to enhance nerve regeneration. In 1988, Mackinnon performed the first nerve transplant implanting a nerve from a cadaver into a child's leg. In 1996, Mackinnon assumed the Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr. and Robert H. Shoenberg Endowed Chair as Professor and Chief, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Her research has used the principles of contact guidance to enhance nerve growth across gaps, and her recent work has incorporated the interactions between the neurons and the immune system, such as macrophages, as the immune support of peripheral regeneration is important in surgical success. For example, Mackinnon's recent work in basic science has been exploring the role of macrophages at the site of nerve injury by creating new methods to deliver macrophage depleting agents to specifically explore their role in nerve regeneration. Her group at Washington University has also recently shown that the CCL2/CCR2 macrophage axis is important in nerve regeneration in the context of acellular nerve allografts.

Mackinnon is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCSC) of Canada and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) of the United States and Canada. 2000–2022 – Castle Connolly Top Doctors List 2016 – AAPS Distinguished Fellow Award 2012 – AAPS Research Achievement Award in Basic Science 1998 – James Barrett Brown Award

Selected publications Mackinnon SE, Hudson AR. Clinical application of peripheral nerve transplantation. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1992 Oct;90(4): 695–9. .

Mackinnon SE, Patterson GA. Long-term follow-up on the use of soft-tissue expansion for shoulder reconstruction. Ann Plast Surg. 1992 Aug;29(2): 170–2. . .

Mackinnon SE, Dellon AL. Clinical nerve reconstruction with a bioabsorbable polyglycolic acid tube. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1990 Mar;85(3): 419–24. . .

Mackinnon SE. New directions in peripheral nerve surgery. Ann Plast Surg. 1989 Mar;22(3): 257–73. . .

Personal life Mackinnon married Alec Patterson, a thoracic surgeon at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in 1972. They have four children.