Joseph Lopez, MD, MBA

Dr. Joseph Lopez is the Chief of Pediatric Head & Neck Surgery at AdventHealth for Children. Dr. Lopez is the first dual fellowship-trained head and neck surgeon and pediatric craniofacial surgeon in the United States. Dr. Lopez received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he also earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Healthcare Management. He went on to complete a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland/R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. While in residency, he was selected to complete a post-doctoral research fellowship in Tissue Engineering and Stem Cell Biology in the Laboratory of Craniofacial and Orthopedic Tissue publishing several seminal papers on the development of nano scaffolds for bone and nerve regeneration. As a senior resident, he was the recipient of the prestigious Frank L Coulson Award for Clinical Excellence, awarded to a single trainee at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for their outstanding contribution to clinical care. Appointed as Chief Resident in his last year of training, he was also the recipient of the Department of Plastic Surgery Resident Teaching award and the Dr. Shi-Tsung Basic Science Research Award for his numerous scientific contributions to the development of tissue engineering approaches for craniofacial reconstruction.
Following his training in Baltimore, Dr. Lopez completed a fellowship in Pediatric Craniomaxillofacial Surgery at the Yale Craniofacial, Oral, and Dental Center at the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, where he was awarded the Betsy Winter House Staff Award, recognizing his significant contributions to the education of medical students. He then completed a second prestigious fellowship in Head & Neck Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A highly experience clinician, Dr. Lopez also completed an Oral & Maxillofacial Travel Fellowship at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid, Spain.
Dr. Lopez is also a national-renown scientist and researcher. His research interest spans both translational basic science research and clinical outcomes research. He has developed novel tissue engineering methods that aim to augment bone regeneration in small and large animal models. He also has established clinical treatment algorithms for the treatment of children with facial trauma. His research interests have amounted to over 150 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, or articles across numerous prestigious national and international journals and publications.