Upstate Medical’s Tatum installed as AAFPRS president

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dr. Sherard Tatum, professor at Upstate Medical University, has been installed as president of the 2,200-member American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) and its educational and research foundation. 

The academy is the trade organization for facial plastic surgeons nationwide. Tatum is a professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery and professor of pediatrics at Upstate Medical University.

Tatum has been a member of the Upstate faculty for more than 30 years, serving on numerous committees, including the cancer and trauma committees; several chair search committees; the medical student advisor program; and as a scientific reviewer for the Institutional Review Board.

Tatum earned his medical degree from the University of South Florida in 1985 and completed postgraduate training in general surgery and otolaryngology at Eastern Virginia Medical School; craniomaxillofacial surgery at University of Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; and facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of California-Davis Medical Center.

In November, Tatum traveled to Ukraine to perform facial surgeries on civilians and soldiers injured in the war with Russia. He made a similar trip in the fall of 2022. The trips were coordinated through AAFPRS’s Face to Face program.