Dr. Per Hedén was born in Stockholm, Sweden 1951. After completing medical training in Stockholm at the Karolinska Institute he entered his plastic surgery training program in 1978. Dr. Hedén was subsequently one of the driving forces in establishing microsurgery in the region and this led to the first microsurgical operation in Stockholm, performed in 1981. After completing his plastic surgery training in 1982, he held a plastic surgery position in Australia. He subsequently pursued plastic surgery research in the United States, first in Springfield, Illinois, and later at Harvard University in Boston. His research, which dealt mostly with blood circulation and metabolism in skin flaps, led to his thesis, “Monitoring techniques and animal models as guides for free flap surgery,” in 1988. After continuing his research he achieved, and still holds, an Associate Professorship at the Karolinska institute in 1990. He became the head of the microsurgery unit at Sabbatsbergs Hospital in 1990. He still has a devoted interest for microsurgical repair of facial paralyses and patients from all of Sweden are sent to Dr. Hedén for this kind of surgery.

Over the years he has published more than 50 scientific papers and also a number of chapters in plastic surgery textbooks. He has also been, and continues to be, an advisor for young plastic surgeons doing research.

In 1991 he founded Akademikliniken together with Jan Jernbeck, which today is Northern Europe’s largest private plastic surgery hospital. Today, more than 60 000 procedures are performed per year at Akademikliniken. At Akademikliniken a world leading experience in the use of anatomical high cohesive silicone breast implants has been gained. Dr Hedén has developed new techniques applying to the use of these devices and he has held a large number of international workshops and lectures on this subject. He has also been invited to many countries where he has performed operations to demonstrate his techniques. Dr Hedén has also been invited as honorary lecturer to speak on the subject of facial aesthetic surgery. Dr. Hedén sits on the review board for doctoral theses in plastic surgery and has served as faculty opponent. He is regularly called on to review papers for publication in the Scandinavian journal of plastic surgery and has been on the Board of Reviewers for International Abstracts of the American journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is also a member of the editorial board of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Journal. Dr Hedén has written the patient information book: “ Plastic Surgery and You” published in Swedish 1996. It has since also been translated and published in English and Russian. The book is richly illustrated with over 700 photographs and drawings. It is printed and sold in 10 000 copies in Sweden. The photographs of patients in this book show a few examples of what Dr. Hedén has accomplished over the years. Dr Hedén has also been the organizer and president of several international meetings among these is the plastic surgery congress Beauty through Science held each year in Stockholm.

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