Gregory Borschel
James Joseph Harbaugh, Jr. Professor of Plastic Surgery - 2021
Dr. Gregory Borschel graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1997 and completed his residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Michigan in 2005. He completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship in neuromuscular tissue engineering at the University of Michigan, and a fellowship in Pediatric Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.
Borschel is the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Riley Hospital for Children. His practice focuses on pediatric nerve injuries, corneal neurotization, facial paralysis, congenital hand surgery, and microvascular reconstruction. His research laboratory develops treatments for nerve injuries and improves patient outcomes. He works with neuroscientists, engineers, and doctors around the world to improve treatments for patients with these conditions.
His clinical work focuses on pediatric facial paralysis, nerve injuries, hand surgery and microvascular reconstruction, and he has pioneered corneal neurotization, a treatment for neurotrophic keratopathy, a rare cause of blindness caused by lack of nerve supply to the cornea. His research laboratory focuses on ways to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration, including drug and growth factor delivery, electrical stimulation, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning neurotrophic keratopathy and corneal neurotization.
He has published over 140 original peer-reviewed publications, plus four textbooks on plastic surgery and dozens of book chapters. He has served as the primary supervisor for several master's students, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral fellows in nerve regeneration research. These students have won hundreds of international, national, and local awards, fellowships, competitions, and prizes for their research in nerve regeneration.
Dr. Borschel was elected President of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve for 2021 and was reappointed President for 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was elected Chair of the Plastic Surgery Research Council for 2020 and was appointed Chair for a second term for 2022.