Foad Nahai, MD
ISAPS President (2008-2010)

ISAPS: We had the pleasure of learning more about you in our past News issue with Coffee and Anecdotes; it’s lovely to connect with you again! As someone who has lived in several regions worldwide, what makes ISAPS a global community?
NAHAI: ISAPS is and has always been a diverse international community. Our founders were from several nations representing several of the continents. Since then, not only our membership but also our leadership represents hundreds of countries and almost all continents, a true global community. 

ISAPS: As the founder of the ISAPS Patient Safety Diamond, can you share how the concept was developed?
NAHAI: Yes, I am happy to do so. Around the turn of the century, many of us in academia and most of our national societies began to focus on patient safety. Concurrently, there was a huge increase in medical tourism for aesthetic surgery. Given ISAPS' global reach and leadership, I felt that our organization not only should champion patient safety globally but should lead it! That was when I started writing about patient safety and summarized it as the four facets of a diamond: The patient, the procedure, the surgeon, and the facility.

ISAPS: And why is it so significant for our specialty, and specifically, for ISAPS?
NAHAI: For the specialty and for ISAPS, this is important as it distinguishes us from the untrained, poorly trained, or non-surgeons who claim to be aesthetic surgeons, “Fake Plastic Surgeons”! There are near-daily reports of fatal and near-fatal complications in the hands of the untrained and or in facilities that are not safe for surgery.

The four facets of the ISAPS Safety Diamond are the essentials for patient safety. All our members are board-certified in the specialty and are aware of which patients and which procedures are high risk. The facility is equally important, and most, if not all, of our members operate in accredited facilities. 

ISAPS: This year at the ISAPS Olympiad World Congress, a new category was introduced: the prestigious Foad Nahai Award for Patient Safety! Can you provide more information on how this initiative came to be and your role in it?
NAHAI: I am honored and humbled to have this award named after me. I believe that our President, Dr. Arturo Ramírez-Montañana, had the idea, which was approved by the board. My role in it is to have the privilege to present the award. Unfortunately, I was not in Singapore for the Olympiad to present it personally, but I look forward to Cancun next October to personally recognize the winner and present the medallion.

ISAPS: As a member of the faculty for the ISAPS Face Masters meeting in St. Louis next year, what are you most excited about?
NAHAI: Without question, it is exciting to be a part of such an international faculty, all of whom I know personally, call them my friends, but most of all recognize and respect them as the global leaders in facial aesthetic surgery. 

Don't miss our other September interview with Dr. Matilde Tettamanzi!