Richard Redett MED ’95
Professor, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Vice Dean for Clinical Affairs
Physician in Chief, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Richard Redett, MD, MED ’95 has centered his whole career—perhaps his entire life—on service and restoration, underpinned with a spirit of deep humility. His singular motivation has been to improve people’s lives, both on an individual patient level and a broader scale through the training of future surgeons.
Redett’s four years serving as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic put him on the path to medicine. During medical school at Dartmouth, a single day observing a cleft lip repair surgery solidified his decision to become a plastic surgeon. He saw the immediate difference his work could make to restore both function and dignity, completely reshaping a patient’s life.
Since that day, Redett has become an internationally recognized pediatric plastic surgeon, educator, researcher, and healthcare leader, advancing patient care while mentoring future generations of surgeons and expanding access to specialized care around the world.
An expert in facial, craniofacial, and microsurgery, Redett has spent more than two decades caring for children with cleft lip and palate, craniofacial differences, burn injuries, and other complex conditions, setting national and international standards of excellence.
In 2018, he led an unprecedented urogenital and abdominal wall transplant surgery, restoring function and dignity to a catastrophically injured miliary service member. Despite the groundbreaking complexity of the surgery, Redett remains humble, with unwavering focus on patient welfare and benefit. “It reinforced something I've always believed: The operation itself is never the goal. It's what the operation allows someone to reclaim.”
Currently the director of Johns Hopkins’ genital vascularized composite allotransplantation program, Redett has held many leadership positions at Johns Hopkins over the years, including as vice dean, department chair, physician-in-chief, and director of the world-class residency and fellowship programs. He says teaching and mentoring have become just as important to him as operating. He is a mentor who teaches technical excellence with integrity, preparing learners to perform restorative surgeries and expand the impact to innumerable patients over time.
“If a surgeon trains hundreds of residents over a career, improving how that surgeon is trained has the potential to benefit thousands of patients,” Redett says. “That perspective broadened my view of leadership. The greatest impact often comes not only from the care you provide yourself but also from helping others become better surgeons and mentors.”
Displaying a lifelong commitment to global health equity and service, he has conducted teaching-focused medical missions in Africa and Central and South America, while respecting the local culture and expertise in the areas he serves.
We are honored to present Redett with the 2026 Career Achievement Award for his steadfast commitment to improving the lives of others through compassion, excellence, humility, and leadership.
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