Research Committee of FESSH is dedicated to promoting new ideas to improve the future of hand surgery treatments by supporting research activities through grants, organizing research educational events, and setting up infrastructure for on-going research projects/positions within FESSH.
Ongoing projects include launch of research grants, involvement in the FESSH congresses by talks on research options and informal networking events, workshops and webinars on research related topics as well as a special research grant PROMs for Europe.
Prof. Dr. Leila Harhaus is the chair of the FESSH Research Committee. She is the director of the Department of Hand-, Replantation- and Microsurgery at BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin and Chair of Hand-, Replantation- and Microsurgery at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She studied medicine in Mainz and Freiburg and started her residency at the Department for Trauma Surgery, Orthopedics and Plastic Surgery at University Hospital Göttingen, Germany. After three years, she moved to BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen, where she obtained her board qualification for plastic surgery and two years later for hand surgery. She passed the EBHS Exam in 2019 as “best candidate” and also completed her studies of health economics. During her one-year microsurgical fellowship at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, she began her intensive work in the field of peripheral nerve surgery, which she has since than continued as her clinical and scientific focus. She is leading a large research group working on almost all topics of hand surgery. As a member of numerous societies, she is involved in committee work, leads the guideline work and translational research topics.
Judit Hetthessy, MD PhD, co-chair of the Research Committee. She worked as a specialist trained Senior Consultant of Hand Surgery, and Assistant Professor at the Department of Orthopedics, Semmelweis University in Hungary. She now works in her own private practice, handling a wide range of elective cases with a focus on secondary reconstruction, rhemuatoid hand, tumors and congenital deformities. She holds a FESSH diploma since 2016. Dr. Hetthessy is currently also a Member of the Board of the Hungarian Society for Surgery of the Hand and worked as an Assistant Professor at the Science Management Workgroup of the Doctoral School of Semmelweis University for three years, and is an active PhD mentor, while pursuing research projects herself. Her private practice (Hand Clinic Budapest) is now an accredited training facility for Semmelweis University.
Zoi Tzimorota is a Consultant Plastic Surgeon in the Department of Burns, Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery and the EBA-accredited Burns ICU at G. Papanikolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds a Diploma in Plastic Surgery (2016) and has been licensed to practise in Greece (since 2004) and Germany (since 2008). Following early clinical training at Theagenio Oncology Hospital and rotational surgical training in Bavaria (including traumatology and orthopaedics), she completed her specialty training in Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery at G. Papanikolaou Hospital. In 2022, she undertook a 3-month microsurgery fellowship at BG Klinik Ludwigshafen, Germany. Her PhD research at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki focuses on chemically induced tendon-adhesion formation and prevention using a novel rat model. From 2018 to 2024, she served annually as local faculty (speaker and instructor) in the Tendon Transfers in the Upper Limb seminar on fresh-frozen cadaveric specimens, organised by the Orthopaedic & Traumatology Association of Macedonia & Thrace and the 1st Orthopaedic Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, under the patronage of FESSH. She is a member of HESPRAS (Hellenic Society of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery), ΕΕΧΧ (Hellenic Society of Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery), EEEM (Hellenic Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery), and the EBA (European Burns Association).
Francesca Toia is an Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery and Chief of the Training Program in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery at the University of Palermo. She works at the University Hospital “P. Giaccone” of Palermo, a FESSH accredited Hand Trauma and Replantation Center. She specialized in plastic surgery in 2013, received the European Board Hand Surgery Examination Diploma in 2017 and holds a PhD in Experimental Oncology and Surgery. Her training in hand surgery was based in Palermo but included international experience in UK, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Her main fields of interest in hand surgery are trauma, nerve surgery, microsurgery, tetrahand and spasticity. She is an active member of SICM (Italian Society for Hand Surgery), EURAPS (European Associations of Plastic Surgeons), SICPRE (Italian Society for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery) and SIM (Italian Society for Microsurgery) and associate editor of the Plastic and Aesthetic Research Journal.
Mikko Räisänen, MD, is a dedicated hand surgeon and an active member of the FESSH Research Committee. He serves as a part-time Consultant in Hand Surgery at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland and practices in several private clinics. His clinical expertise focuses on wrist and elbow pathologies, with a strong research interest in Dupuytren’s contracture. Dr. Räisänen earned his FESSH Diploma in 2021 and currently serves on the Board of the Finnish Society for Surgery of the Hand. He is a passionate mentor, at the moment supervising over twenty medical student theses and PhD projects. An enthusiastic educator, Dr. Räisänen leads a national webinar series on wrist pathologies for Finnish hand surgeons and plays a key role in organising academic events, including a pre-meeting, wrist arthroscopy course, for the upcoming FESSH Congress in Helsinki.
Matthias Vanhees, MD, PhD, is a Hand Surgeon at Orthoca (AZ Monica Hospital) and Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), and serves as Guest Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Antwerp. Dr. Vanhees completed his medical and orthopedic training at the University of Antwerp, where he also earned a Ph.D. for research on flexor tendon repair and carpal tunnel syndrome. His advanced training includes fellowships at the Mayo Clinic (USA), Gold Coast University Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital (Australia), Institut Kaplan and Dr Piñal and Associates (Spain), Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (UK), and Ganga Hospital (India). Dr. Vanhees holds the EBHS Exam since 2018. He has contributed to numerous book chapters and scientific publications and holds several patents in orthopedic innovation. He is actively involved in professional societies, serving on the board of the Belgian Hand Group and co-founding the Belgian Hand Surgery Certificate program. His clinical and scientific interests focus on 3D technology in fracture treatment, patient-specific surgical planning, and advanced therapies for thumb base arthritis.
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