What journey led Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez to become the Director of the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and the Chief of the NYU Plastic Surgery Department? What road led to being a dentist, an oral surgeon, a micro-surgeon, a genius doing facial transplants?

“I always liked the idea of being well-liked by everyone, being very knowledgeable, but at the same time, being very humble.”

As he tells it, he happened to be fortunate to have some great mentors. He first decided to go into medicine as a dentist. Not that this was a calling, by any means. It’s just that, growing up in Miami, his family’s dentist was “a great guy”, a well-respected normal guy who made a good living. And, a friend’s father, whom he also emulated, was an orthodontist. Dr. Rodriguez was intrigued by how they ran their practices, were leaders of the community and solved issues for patients and their families.