Cassio Raposo do Amaral

Professor Cassio Menezes Raposo do Amaral, Ph.D. (b. September 9, 1943, São Paulo, Brazil; d. September 1, 2005, Campinas, Brazil) was an internationally recognized physician and plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

Early life and education
He was born in São Paulo, and went on to study Medicine at the then recently-established State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), graduating in 1966. While a student, he was active in the Medical Student Union, and was one of the organizers of a preparatory course for entrance to the medical school. He also began as a student his life-long careers as a medical researcher and teacher.

Following his graduation, he had three years of medical residence training in general surgery, being one at UNICAMP and two at the Medical School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He finished a specialization in plastic surgery at the University of São Paulo (USP), becoming an instructor at the Medical School of the State University of Campinas in the same year. He obtained his Ph.D. at USP and won a full professorship at UNICAMP in 1994. Dr. Cassio Raposo do Amaral post-doctoral studies in advanced plastic surgery were done abroad, at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery of the New York University Medical Center, under Prof. John Marquis Converse, where he was invited to stay for one year as a plastic surgery fellow and as an assistant professor from 1972 to 1973. In the following year he travelled to France to study with noted surgeon and professor, Dr. Paul Tessier, the creator of craniofacial surgery.

Surgical career
Dr. Raposo do Amaral returned to Campinas, Brazil, where he structured the plastic surgery department at UNICAMP and founded SOBRAPAR (Brazilian Society for Research and Care for Craniofacial Rehabilitation) in 1979. SOBRAPAR is better known nowadays for its Institute of Craniofacial Plastic Surgery, pioneering philantropic institution in the scientific research and treatment of major craniofacial deformities in South America.

He also founded and organized the plastic surgery department at Pontificial Catholic University of Campinas (PUCCAMP) in 1980, the plastic surgery service at the Hospital Infantil Álvaro Ribeiro, the center for treatment of burns of Paulinia's Municipal Hospital, the scientific departments of plastic surgery of the Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia de Campinas and the Associação Paulista de Medicina, among others. He was one of the founders and director of the São Paulo Chapter of Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery (1986-1987) as well as of its Chapter of Craniofacial Plastic Surgery. In addition, he had a busy private practice with his wife and collaborator, Dr. Vera Adami Raposo do Amaral, a noted psychologist and university professor specializing in psychological aspects of craniofacial disorders in children.

Dr. Raposo do Amaral was highly regarded as an extraordinarily skilled surgeon and was one of the few in Latin America who dared to operate on the most difficult cases of severe and rare craniofacial fissures, sometimes requiring the entire disassembling and reconstruction of the human face, in surgical interventions which required 8 hrs or more. He and his collaborators developed many new surgical approaches to the treatment of craniosynostosis using gradual bone distraction, to facial rejuvenation, to synthetic bone prostheses, as well as research on the application of computer-based 3D surgical planning, the experimental investigation of release of silicone from breast implants, etc. At SOBRAPAR, one of the few hospitals dedicated to craniofacial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the world, he was a pioneer in creating a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to the integrated management of craniofacial disorders, putting together an excellent team composed of neurologists, neurosurgeons, orthopedists, plastic surgeons, laryngologists, ophthalmologists, dentists, psychologists, speech therapists, physical therapists, biologists, nurses, social assistants, and so on.

He was also the founder, with Dr. Renato M.E. Sabbatini and Dr. Valdenize Tiziani, and the scientific editor of The Online Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the first on-line journal of this area, and a member of the editorial board of the Brazilian Journal of Plastic Surgery and of the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.

Death
Shortly before his untimely death, at 62 years of age, Dr. Cassio Raposo do Amaral, who held several offices in the International Society of Craniofacial Surgery, had been elected as its president. His two sons are also plastic surgeons.