By ACOMS Staff
Michael Markiewicz, DDS, MD, MPH, FACS, is highly involved in the present and future of the oral and maxillofacial surgery profession. In addition to working in two sub-specialties, he is a professor, a mentor, and a traveler, bringing OMS services to people nationally and internationally. We spoke with him about his work and goals in this Q&A.
What does your work look like day to day?
Dr. Markiewicz (MM): My day job is as chair of the OMS department at the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine. I focus on two distinct areas of practice: children with congenital conditions — I treat those in a children’s hospital — and adult head and neck cancer management, specifically tumor removal and reconstruction. I also do research, train residents and the fellows here, and then in addition, I do mission trips to Guatemala.
I operate three to four days a week and the other days I am in clinic. We are trying to build our department right now and recently added a fellowship in pediatric craniomaxillofacial surgery.
How is your program and practice at Buffalo making a difference?
MM: We are always trying to push the line in what we are doing. We use technology as an adjunct to make surgeries more predictable, faster, and more accurate, and we use computer-assisted surgical planning to push what we can do for patients. In children, we use customized devices, including those born with congenital anomalies. For patients with head/neck cancer, we use computer planning and devices to expedite their treatment and make surgery more efficient and more accurate. One thing we offer to those patients is where we can remove a jaw tumor in one day and then also reconstruct it in that same day and place dental implants and a prosthesis — pushing the limits so hopefully they go home whole again. Historically, that was usually done in patients with benign tumors, but now we do it in patients with cancer.
Our thought is if you’re not always growing and innovating, you’re falling backwards. For us as clinicians and educators, we want to be always pushing the envelope.
What has been something you have learned in your time volunteering?
MM: There is a negative side of mission trips, as the fear is you can go in and “cut and run,” and then you could leave a child in a worse condition than before their surgery. The only ones I participate with are those that have very good follow-up with local surgeons and local pediatricians. The team itself returns every month or so — so follow up is excellent. Mission trips, when conducted in the right way, are the purest form of why you do — surgery. There’s not as much bureaucracy. In the U.S., there are insurance approvals and mounds of paperwork, but on these trips the majority of time is spent doing what we love, and you get to help people. You spend more time with the families, parents, and the amazing children we get to treat. On this most recent trip, most patients traveled over 15 hours to receive care.
Is anyone able to get involved in these trips?
MM: The good trips now are very strict in that they don’t want just anyone going. They only allow surgeons who excel at these surgeries in the U.S. to participate. They don’t want you to travel to do surgery you never do in the United States. The standard is high. If you have the right set of skills and training and if you can carry out these surgeries in an effective way, you should reach out.
You’re very involved in and passionate about OMS — how do you inspire your students to follow in your footsteps?
MM: It can be hard to connect with the new trainees and young generation, even though I’m not that far out from being a trainee myself. But it’s also very rewarding when you do. I sometimes find it challenging to figure out what is motivating our trainees. It’s good to know where we came from, but many current residents do not know who built our specialty — I think that’s very important to curating a thirst for knowledge.
What’s exciting you right now in your work or in the industry?
MM: I look forward to going to work every day, whether that’s here or abroad and look forward to doing what we do as surgeons. It doesn’t feel like a job, although there are hard times. I really enjoy what I do. It’s a bit unusual to do both head/neck and pediatric surgery— it adds up — but I think it’s important for teachers to be very competent in the surgery they teach.
Dr. Markiewicz is professor and chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Buffalo, and adjunct professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Surgery at the Jacob’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Science. He is an attending head and neck and reconstructive surgeon at Roswell Park Cancer Center, and is co-director of the cleft and craniofacial team, at the Craniofacial Center of Western New York. Dr. Markiewicz earned his dental degree at the University at Buffalo and medical degree at Oregon Health and Science University where he also completed his general surgery and oral and maxillofacial surgery training. He obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University with a concentration in biostatistics and epidemiology and completed a fellowship in clinical investigation at The Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Massachusetts. Dr. Markiewicz completed a fellowship in pediatric cleft and craniomaxillofacial surgery at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, in Orlando Florida. To complete his surgical training, he completed a fellowship in head and neck oncologic and microvascular reconstructive surgery in the Division of Head and Neck Surgery, at the University of Florida, College of Medicine, in Jacksonville Florida. Dr. Markiewicz’s clinical and research interests are dedicated to the management of cleft and craniofacial anomalies in children and adults, the treatment of head and neck cancer, and the reconstruction of congenital and acquired defects in children and adults.