International Residents Forum takes significant steps in Buenos Aires
Over three days in May at the Global Plastic Surgery Congress 2026, the ASPS International Residents Forum (IRF) did what it was created to do: It turned a room full of strangers into a community. We hosted our own dedicated forum session, crowned the champions of our first-ever Global Residents Championship and recorded interviews with residents and leaders that reached thousands through the ASPS International Instagram channel. Perhaps most meaningfully, however, we completed the inaugural IRF International Residents Exchange Programme, sending one of our own across the world to operate, learn and build a friendship between two continents.
The IRF on May 27 took over Salón Atlántico C at the Hilton Buenos Aires for a two-hour session built entirely around international residents. The program opened with welcome remarks from IRF Chair Jing Qin Tay, MD, alongside ASPS President C. Bob Basu, MD, MBA, MPH; Omar Pellicioni, MD; ASPS past President Gregory Greco, DO; and ASPS President-elect Lynn Damitz, MD.
Faculty delivered a series of fast, practical talks aimed squarely at trainees – topics that ranged from building an aesthetic practice from scratch, to the art of mentorship, to candid career advice from a past president and an overview of the Global Advancement for Academic Plastic Surgeons Residents Exchange Program.
An interactive global session closed the program, with representatives from Argentina, México, Brazil, Qatar, Türkiye, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, Albania, Croatia and the United States sharing fellowship opportunities, training pathways and scholarship programmes available in their regions – the kind of information that's almost impossible to find without a friend on the inside (which is precisely what the IRF aims to be).
For the first time, the IRF brought a full media presence to the kind of meeting. Throughout GPSC 2026, our podcast and webinar teams recorded a rolling series of live interviews with residents, faculty and global partners – capturing first impressions, research stories, career advice and the simple joy of meeting peers from across the world.
These conversations were published on the ASPS International Instagram channel, carrying the voices of Buenos Aires far beyond the walls of the Hilton and out to residents who could not travel. If you presented, competed or stopped by the IRF stand, there's a good chance you made the feed – and if you missed it, the archive is well worth a scroll.
New competition launches
Building on the success of the International Residents World Cup, the IRF launched the ASPS Global Residents Championship. Held in conjunction with GPSC 2026, the championship used a proven virtual format – questions read live and answers submitted in real time through Kahoot!
Teams represented their training programs and universities, with each member answering individually and the team score taken as the average across all members. Scoring rewarded both accuracy and speed, and the tension in the room as the leaderboard updated after every question was unmistakable.
After a hard-fought pool stage across two groups, two programs advanced to the final: the Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires (Argentina). The championship round delivered exactly the high-energy, prime-time finish the format promises – a fitting celebration of the clinical knowledge and competitive spirit of residents from across the Americas and beyond. The team from Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires won the well-deserved inaugural gold medal of the competition.
Global exchange
Of everything the IRF achieved in Buenos Aires, none means more for the future of the forum than completing the very first IRF International Residents Exchange Program.
The inaugural exchange sent Mohamed Badie Ahmed, MD, (Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar; IRF Webinars Lead) to the Plastic Surgery Service of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, hosted by Horacio Mayer, MD, the hospital's chief of plastic surgery. Over a two-week placement, Dr. Ahmed scrubbed in alongside the Hospital Italiano team, exchanged techniques and built the kind of cross-border surgical friendship that was envisioned when the program formed.
The exchange was formally recognized at the IRF session's inaugural Residents Exchange Programme Award Ceremony, presented by Dr. Mayer to Dr. Ahmed – a moment that turned an idea first sketched in committee meetings into a living, breathing reality.
Our forum is built by its members. Buenos Aires proved what residents can do when given a stage – and there's room for more hands. Whether you want to compete, present, help run the next championship, join the media team or put your program forward for the exchange, there's a place for you.
Interview with Mohamed Badie Ahmed, MD
Q: What unique surgical techniques did you observe while scrubbed-in with Dr. Mayer's team? How did the case mix in Argentina compare to Qatar?
Dr. Ahmed: I assisted in a wide variety of cases, but the main volume was breast reconstruction – their dedicated one-year breast fellowship truly reflects their immense expertise in this area. I also took part in body contouring, gender affirmation and complex facial and vaginal reconstructions.
In Argentina, hand and limb trauma are primarily managed by orthopedic teams. In Qatar, plastic surgery fully manages hand cases, upper/lower limb, trunk, breast and facial reconstructions. There are also significantly higher volumes of genital and vaginal reconstruction cases in Argentina. Experiencing these differing clinical pathways was incredibly enriching.
Q: Describe your integration into the team and navigating the dynamics of the O.R.
Dr. Ahmed: The team at Hospital Italiano was extremely welcoming and highly accustomed to hosting international visitors, which made integration seamless. Being the first visitor from Qatar offered a valuable opportunity to exchange cultures and ideas between our centers.
One challenge was the language, as Spanish is the main language spoken there and I don't speak Spanish. However, staff was incredibly supportive and made every effort to explain things in English whenever feasible. I left the hospital with new surgical exposure and meaningful friendships, and I would be thrilled to welcome my colleagues to Qatar and Egypt in the future.
Q: What did it mean to you to receive your Visiting Fellow certificate?
Dr. Ahmed: It was a deeply proud and honorable moment for me to be recognized on stage by ASPS President C. Bob Basu, MD, MBA, MPH, and Horacio Mayer, MD. This milestone truly validated the power of global collaboration, proving that learning beyond your home program expands your perspective and helps shape your future career, mindset and professional growth.
Q: What's your main advice for residents looking to apply for the next cycle?
Dr. Ahmed: Strongly consider an external rotation or visiting fellowship. Plastic surgery is a very broad specialty, and different centers around the world may approach the exact same procedures in very different ways.
I advise trainees to choose a center that aligns directly with their area of interest. If interested in reconstruction, select a center with a high volume of reconstructive cases; if your interest is aesthetic surgery, choose a center with strong aesthetic exposure. Finally, try to choose an environment that offers a rich cultural experience – these rotations shape your mindset and broaden the network of peers who will support your future career.
Dr. Tay is chair of the ASPS IRF; Dr. Prasidha is newsletter lead for the ASPS IRF.