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ASAPS Endorsed Fellowship

The Bitar Cosmetic Surgery Institute is pleased to offer a one-year advanced aesthetic surgery fellowship, endorsed by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. It is one of the select few practices in the United States to earn this distinguished endorsement. The fellowship will provide all the tools necessary to have a successful aesthetic practice by providing comprehensive training in all aspects of aesthetic plastic surgery, business management, marketing, and social media.

Prerequisites/Requirements

The candidate must have completed an ACGME-accredited plastic surgery residency and be a board-eligible/board-certified plastic surgeon. International applicants are also encouraged to apply with outstanding qualifications. The applicant should be able to satisfy the requirements for licensure by the Virginia Medical Board and the credentialing verification of INOVA Hospital.

Fellowship Experience

The fellowship is a mentorship model, where the fellow will work alongside Dr. Bitar in the assessment and management of aesthetic surgery patients. The fellow spends 3-4 days per week in the operating room and 1-2 days in the clinic. In that time, the fellow will develop a sophisticated understanding of the indications and limitations of surgical and nonsurgical rejuvenation techniques. The fellow will be exposed to the entire breadth of aesthetic surgery, performing over 500 procedures during the year. Our cases are roughly equally divided between facial surgery 1/3, rhinoplasty 1/3, and breast and body 1/3.

The fellow will be exposed to the full gamut of nonsurgical rejuvenation using the latest technologies, including laser, Plasma Pen, Ultherapy, Coolsculpting, Emsculpt and Exilis. The fellow will learn advanced techniques in fillers and neurotoxins from Dr. Bitar, who developed the Model Lift, as well as his physician assist at the medical spa, who is a clinical trainer for Galderma injectables.

By working with the staff of the Bitar Institute, the fellow will be involved in marketing and will learn how to build their “brand” in a competitive environment, using social media, blogs, television interviews, and podcasts. The fellow will gain skills to successfully manage a plastic surgery business, including data analysis with data mining, metrics-led decision making, negotiating contracts, and dealing with top tier injectable accounts with MERZ, Allergan, Galderma, and other companies that provide nonsurgical body contouring machinery, lasers, and a vast array of skin care treatments.

The fellow will have an opportunity to attend didactics at the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University (either in person or virtual). Clinical research is required, and presentation at the Aesthetic Meeting is expected. Our previous fellows have presented at ASAPS meetings, written chapters in plastic surgery textbooks, and have participated in various academic research.

About Dr. Bitar

Dr. George Bitar is a board-certified plastic surgeon, an artist, and an innovator and proponent of plastic surgery education, who has enjoyed operating and lecturing all over the world. He has been named a top plastic surgeon in numerous publications and won multiple local, national, and international awards. Locally, he has lectured at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia Departments of Plastic Surgery, as well as holding an Assistant Clinical Professor position at George Washington University. He completed his plastic surgery residency at the University of Virginia and later completed two advanced aesthetic fellowships, which included training with prominent international plastic surgeons: Drs. Ellenbogen (Beverly Hills), Giampapa (New Jersey), Marchac (Paris), Widgerow (South Africa), Alexandrides (London), Mendelson (Australia), and Pitanguy (Brazil). He is the author of numerous articles and chapters in aesthetic surgery journals and textbooks. His latest chapters are on Necklifts and on PRP for hair restoration, published in prestigious plastic surgery textbooks. He enjoys teaching fellows and established plastic surgeons. His main interests in plastic surgery are ethnic rhinoplasties (both primary and revision), suture suspension necklifts (as a stand-alone procedure or combined with facelifts), and transaxillary breast augmentations. He has been the medical director of the Bitar Cosmetic Surgery Institute since he established it twenty-one years ago. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Rima. She has a PhD in Electric Engineering from UCLA and serves as the Executive Director of the Bitar Cosmetic Surgery Institute. They have two children, John and Gabriella.