FPT October/ 2025
John Curran, M.D., earns Claus D. Walter Award
for highest international score on 2025 IBCFPRS examination
“The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.” Sir William Osler, FRS, FRCP
The IBCFPRS Board of Directors is delighted to announce that Dr. John Curran, a facial plastic surgeon, currently doing another fellowship in Auckland, New Zealand, earned the highest score on the 2025 IBCFPRS exam in Washington, D.C., this past June. Dr. Curran will be honored with the Claus D. Walter Award for Academic Excellence at the AAFPRS Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, California on September 19th.
It takes some of us years to find our true calling—and sometimes there are those who never do. But then there are individuals, like Dr. Curran, who recognize their life’s work at a very, very early age. Dr. Curran got his start in medicine at the age of 13 when he began working as a Red Cross volunteer at Womack Army Medical Centre, in Fort Bragg. “I enjoyed interacting with patients and working with staff—quite frankly, working in a hospital (albeit as a child volunteer) was fun. In addition to working in the hospital, my biology teacher in high school invoked a deep interest in the life sciences and this sparked an intellectual impetus to delve headlong into medical studies. I went on to work as a student intern while an undergraduate at Bone and Joint Medical Associates in Oakland, California with Dr. Mack Reynolds and he instilled in me the holistic side of medicine—really caring for patients became a mantra and I knew then and there that I could only be happy practicing medicine.”
Dr. Curran’s initial interest in facial plastic surgery began when he was in the US Army and deployed to Iraq. “I wasn’t a medic at the time, I was a logistician, but I would volunteer in the evenings when not on mission at the combat surgical hospital because I knew medical school had to be in my future. In Iraq, I was fascinated to see the surgeons put the wounded back together—particularly the facial injuries. Due to that exposure, facial plastic surgery kept swimming through my thoughts. There was always a puzzle to unlock that was not dependent on purely surgical steps. It was also important to develop a mental toolbox to serve and solve the problems identified,” Dr. Curran explained.
After his deployment to Iraq, Dr. Curran went to medical school at the University of Dundee in Scotland. “During medical school, Mr. Rod Mountain, a Head and Neck surgeon, showed me that ENT was the specialty path for me and opened many doors to expand my opportunities. (I always say that because he joined me for a Metallica Concert as a very senior consultant and I was just a lowly student!)
I did my house officer years in Bristol and Somerset, England and surgical training began in Oxford, England (senior house officer years) and then went on to my formal ENT residency in Glasgow, Scotland. In ENT residency, Mr. Nataranjan Balaji steered me toward facial plastics and supported multiple opportunities that came along to help me develop in the field. During that time, Mr. Richard Townsley, who is more a friend than a mentor, introduced me to my fellowship director, Dr. Andres Gantous, who accepted nothing but excellence and taught me the exacting surgical standards I needed to uphold,” confided Dr. Curran.
When asked what career path expectations Dr. Curran has after his Rhinology fellowship in Auckland, New Zealand with Professor Richard Douglas, he shared that, “I really enjoy nasal reconstruction. Rhinoplasty was one of my favorite operations and that was reinforced last year with the skills I learned for that procedure during my fellowship with Dr. Gantous. After my Rhinology fellowship, I expect to return to Scotland where I would likely work in the NHS as a rhinologist and facial plastic surgeon. (Facial plastics tends to be a subset of rhinology in the UK.) There is a huge population burden in Scotland, and the UK as a whole, with levimasole induced cocaine vasculitis. I expect in several decades, many users will have reformed and require substantial work to return them to an aesthetically acceptable and functional nose. I think there is something in combined endonasal and endoscopic reconstruction as well, which I am excited to explore utilizing skills from both of my fellowships, concludes Dr. Curran.
Dr. Santdeep Paun, IBCFPRS President, adds, “The IBCFPRS examination and certification program represent the highest level that can be achieved by international surgeons who wish to let patients, peers, and the public know that they have achieved the gold standard in facial plastic surgery certification. Dr. Curran not only passed the examination, but achieved the highest international score, which is a testament to his commitment to be the best that he can be. May Dr. Curran serve as an inspiration to others as he continues to promote the advancement of our specialty and the IBCFPRS certification program. We will look forward to having him complete his IBCFPRS certification in the near future and welcoming him into IBCFPRS family.” concludes Dr. Paun.
To apply for IBCFPRS certification, please go to www.iffpss.org or www.ibcfprs.org and click on IBCFPRS for additional details and to download an IBCFPRS application.
