Mark Clemens MD MBA FACS

Mark your calendars! The 11th International Breast Surgery Workshop (IBSW) is coming to the breathtaking island of Ischia, Italy — May 7-9, 2026! 🌊🇮🇹
Join us for an unforgettable 3-day event that unites the world of breast surgery:

*Cutting-edge innovations in aesthetic and reconstructive techniques
*The 7th World Consensus Conference on BIA-ALCL
*Brand-new MIRA Symposium on minimally invasive and robotic-assisted approaches
*Live debates, surgical pearls, and real-world clinical challenges with the world’s leading experts

Presided over by Prof. Fabio Santanelli di Pompeo and Dr. Mark W. Clemens, this is where science, consensus, and surgical excellence meet in one of the most beautiful settings in the Mediterranean.
Whether you’re looking to master the latest techniques, engage in meaningful debate, or network with international colleagues — Ischia 2026 is the place to be.
👉 Register now at: ibsw.it Limited spots — secure your place among the leaders in breast surgery!
We can’t wait to welcome you to Ischia! ✨

Congratulations to Tim Weltz, Mikkel Herly, Søren Sørensen, and our entire collaborative team on this important new high impact (IF 10.3) publication!
The broader implication of these findings is that plastic surgery should probably stop asking whether a breast implant is simply “smooth or textured.” Those labels place fundamentally different surfaces into the same biological bucket.
The results here instead demonstrate a continuum associated with quantitative surface roughness. Smooth implants and the 4 μm surface had remarkably similar microbial profiles. By contrast, traditional microtextured surfaces (30 μm) and macrotextured surfaces (>50 μm) showed progressively altered microbial communities, greater Staphylococcus dominance, and an increasing bacterial burden trend.
This supports a more nuanced model of implant biocompatibility. The relationship between surface roughness and clinical outcomes is not linear. Capsular contracture appears to follow a J-shaped curve, with a potential “Goldilocks” zone of minimal microtopography with a favorable foreign-body response without creating microbial niches and chronic inflammatory environments associated with 30 μm and above textured surfaces. Surface design is not just a manufacturing feature, it is a biologically active variable that shapes the implant-tissue-microbe interface.
Importantly, this was an independent academic investigation. The study was supported by institutional and nonprofit research foundations, with no industry role in its design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or publication. Congratulations again to all of the investigators, participating centers, and especially the patients who made this work possible.
Read the paper:
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

3 DAYS Remaining. One global stage.
The International Breast Surgery Workshop returns to Ischia, Italy—bringing together 60+ world-renowned faculty across aesthetic, reconstructive, and oncologic breast surgery.
This is where techniques are challenged, data is sharpened, and the next standard begins to take shape.
🌍 Can’t make it to Italy?
No excuses this year—LIVE ONLINE ACCESS IS FREE.
📅 May 7–9, 2026
📍 Ischia, Italy
💻 Register now: ibsw.it
Global experts. Shared knowledge. Better outcomes.

There are places in healthcare where excellence is visible… and others where it is absolutely essential, yet rarely seen.
Today, the @UTMDAnderson Chairs of Surgery and Perioperative leadership toured sterile processing. Pure discipline in repetition, the SPD team quietly shapes every surgical outcome long before incision. There is no high-performing OR without a high-performing SPD.
A sincere thank you to Brian Rago, Director Ad Interim, Gwendolyn Carter, SPD Ops Manager, for their operational strength and commitment to team development.
And to the SPD service line leads driving daily excellence:
Jacob Mathew – Plastics / Head & Neck
Ranissia Harris – GGTP / Surgical Oncology / CRS
Marcesha Franklin – Neuro
Denise Turner – Ortho
Your work is not just supporting surgery, it is enabling it. This is what modern sterile processing looks like: data-driven, team-centered, and relentlessly focused on safety. Grateful for this team.
#SterileProcessing #Oncsurgery #WeFightDirty

This week, @MDAndersonNews Perioperative Services celebrates National Surgical Technologists Week (Sept. 21-27, 2025) to recognize the extraordinary contributions of our STs. They are the backbone of surgical patient care — anticipating needs, preparing instruments, and keeping patient safety front and center.
To all of you who scrub in while the morning is still dark, stay later than scheduled, adapt when plans change, anticipate with an uncanny sixth sense, and bring essential expertise to every case: thank you. You make MD Anderson’s mission to EndCancer possible. OncSurgery