Pr Pietro G. di Summa (english version)

Bio

After completing his medical degree between Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium, Pr di Summa graduates at the University of Turin (Italy) in 2007 with a MD thesis on head and neck microsurgical reconstruction. In 2008 he moves to Switzerland where he starts both his research and surgical career.

He performs his plastic surgery training at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne, concluding with a hand surgery fellowship at the CTO-Trauma center in Turin in 2014 (sponsored by the Federation of the European Societies for Surgery of the Hand, FESSH). The same year he obtains the European Board of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (EBOPRAS).

Pr di Summa obtains his FMH title as a specialist in Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery in 2015 and starts working as Chef de Clinique at the CHUV under the lead of Prof.Wassim Raffoul. In these years, besides general plastic and aesthetic surgery, he develops particular interests and skills in orthoplasty and complex microsurgical reconstruction, including lymphatic surgery.

In 2017, after international selection, he is appointed as Senior microsurgical fellow at the world-renowned Canniesburn Plastic Surgery unit in Glasgow (UK). Working for the NHS at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, he benefits of high case-load exposure, further improving his skills focusing in breast microsurgical reconstruction and post-oncological microsurgical reconstruction (Breast cancer and sarcoma).

Back in Switzerland in August 2018, he becomes associate physician at the Department of plastic and hand surgery and core plastic surgeon member of the CHUV Breast Center.

Since march 2022, he is appointed as deputy physician after obtaining the title of the Associate Professor at the Faculty of Biology and Medecine of the University of Lausanne (UNIL).

Pr di Summa is full member of the Swiss Society of Plastic Surgery (SSCPRE), of the Italian Society of Microsurgery (SIM), of the prestigious European Association of Plastic Surgeons (EURAPS) and overseas member of the British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS).

Clinical Specialties

• Plastic and Reconstructive surgery
• Breast microsurgical and implant reconstruction
• Post-oncological microsurgical reconstructions (sarcoma, melanoma, invasive skin cancers) 
• Orthoplasty
• Lymphatic microsurgery
• Aesthetic surgery and cosmetic medicine

Research

Particularly active in the research field since his early career, Pr di Summa obtains his PhD title from the University of Manchester (UK) in 2012, focusing on the role of adipose-derived stem cells in nerve regeneration. Since then, he targeted his attention on nerve tissue engineering after trauma, receiving a second MD title from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) in 2015. He is as well extremely active in clinical research with over 120 Pubmed-indexed publications on general plastic, aesthetic and microsurgical research. In 2017, he received from the University of Lausanne the title of Privat Docent and Maître de Recherche before becoming Associate Professor at the University of Lausanne in 2022.

Pr di Summa collaborates and shares research programs and grants with different universities, such as the EPFL and the universities of Manchester (UK), Geneva (CH), Varese (IT), Turin (IT), Bari (IT) and Glasgow (UK), where he is an honorary affiliated member. Pr di Summa’s research has been funded by the Swiss National Fund, by the Swiss society of plastic surgeons (SSCPRE), by the SICPA foundation and, recently by the Leenaards Foundation.

Publications

Unisciences