Thomas J Gampper, MD
Plastic Surgery
Bio & Overview
Thomas Gampper, MD, is a plastic surgeon specializing in treating children, including cleft lip and palate. He is the director of Laser Surgery and co-founder and director of the Virginia Aesthetic Center, which offers facial and body cosmetic procedures. He is also co-director of the hyperbaric medicine service at UVA Health.
Dr. Gampper attended the University of Kansas for his undergraduate and medical degrees. He completed his surgery residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, then came to UVA for fellowships in burn surgery and hand and microsurgery. He stayed on at UVA for a residency in plastic surgery and a fellowship in craniomaxillofacial surgery, and joined the faculty in 1994. He was appointed the Charles E. Horton Professor of International Plastic Surgery in 2014.
Since 1993, Dr. Gampper has directed the Virginia Children’s Connection, a nonprofit that sends local physicians to a rural area of India to treat children with cleft lip and palate and other debilitating conditions. He is also a member of Physicians for Peace, which trains providers of surgical care in developing countries, and has completed numerous international medical mission trips.
Academic Information
- Department
- Plastic Surgery
- Academic Role
- Professor
- Division
- Plastic Surgery
- Research Interests
- Vascular lesions, hyperbaric medicine and craniofacial anomalies
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- University of Kansas School of Medicine
- Residency
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Fellowships
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Certification
- American Board of Plastic Surgery (Plastic Surgery)
- Appointment
- Co-Director - Hyperbaric Medicine Service, Director - The Aesthetic Center, and Laser Surgery
Highlights
Dr. Thomas Gampper Video Profile
My name's Tom Gampper, and I'm a plastic surgeon at the University of Virginia. So, I take care of a full range of plastic surgery patients. That includes children even before they're born. We see children with clefts that are still in utero with the pregnant mother and we counsel them, all the way to people that are 95 or 100 years old for various conditions. Plastic surgery I rotated when I was a third-year medical student, so a number of years ago, and I saw a cleft lip repair. And I realized and I saw the power that plastic surgery could offer, that in a single hour, you could transform a child's life and give them a new beginning. Plastic surgery is unique. Every patient is so individual, and that's what I think our hallmark of our field, and of plastic surgeons here at UVA, and my personal approach as well, too, is that each patient's condition is different, and even though they may have the same diagnosis, their needs, their situations vary widely. And so we tailor and individualize the care, the treatment plan, and our discussions. After we do a cleft lip repair, we take the child back to the operating room. The parents are obviously anxious and waiting. And then when we first bring the child back in the recovery room and I get to see them holding their child after the repair, that's what makes it worthwhile.
Awards
- 2019 Best Bedside Manner Awards, OurHealth Charlottesville and Shenandoah Valley Magazine; Honorable Mention, Plastic Surgery – Cosmetic
- 2015-2018 Best Doctors in America® List