Chris DeRosier, M.D.

Dr. DeRosier

Dr. Chris DeRosier is a board-certified plastic surgeon who proudly serves the Tallahassee, FL area, performing reconstructive surgery for the face, breast and body. He is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery and offers unique expertise in the field of reconstructive surgery to patients from Destin, FL; Dothan, AL; Valdosta and Thomasville, GA; and surrounding areas.

“Southeastern Plastic Surgery, P.A. is dedicated to providing the latest technology to every patient,” Dr. DeRosier says. “We are excited to combine this technology with the latest techniques that are individualized for each patient.”

Dr. DeRosier and his wife, Rebecca, an OB-GYN, have been active members of the Tallahassee community for the last 6 years, raising their 4 children. When he’s not working, Dr. DeRosier devotes his free time to outdoor activities like traveling, going to the beach, and golfing with his wife and children.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Dr. DeRosier is an AOA graduate of the University of Alabama (UAB) School of Medicine. From a young age, he was drawn to medicine in order to be able to interact with patients and help them. His father was a dentist, and Dr. DeRosier loved to watch him interact with patients. That interaction and his love of science led him to the field of medicine.

Education

Dr. DeRosier completed both his general and plastic surgery residencies at UAB. After his residency, he spent a few years in practice at UAB. During that time, he had the privilege of performing major reconstructive surgery procedures with some of the best reconstructive surgeons in the world, learning techniques and management skills which helped shape his approach to reconstructive surgery.

In 2013, Dr. DeRosier joined Southeastern Plastic Surgery, P.A., bringing academic-level reconstructive surgery to the Tallahassee area. The practice was intentionally designed to serve patients’ needs so that they receive the best possible care under one roof. “You will not find another practice where you will find 3 plastic surgeons who work so well together. The success of our practice comes from us being able to work together to provide the best possible outcome for our patients.”

For Dr. DeRosier, learning is a passion. “Every day is a school day.” He is on the board of a local hospital and part of the regional healthcare system where he works with residents, getting hands-on training himself while teaching them management, surgery and how to design and build treatment plans within the hospital systems and outpatient systems.

“In my heart, reconstructive surgery has the most value and it means the most to me. Patients who need it don’t have a lot of options. It’s pretty special to be able to fill that need and give them back their life.” – Dr. Chris DeRosier

Dr. DeRosier’s Approach to Plastic Surgery

Dr. DeRosier loves reconstructive surgery because it enables him to be able to give people their lives back. When patients come to Dr. DeRosier, they’re desperate for a solution.

He has developed a comprehensive pre-surgical process to help patients get in shape before having surgery in order to achieve the best outcome possible. Dr. DeRosier and his team review every patient, bring them in for an evaluation and perform scans, blood work, imaging and physical exams in order to understand their symptoms and the problems their injury, wound or issue has caused them. For him, the most important thing is to listen to the patient and understand them. This enables him to tailor the reconstructive program and identify goals to suit individual patients’ needs.

“The toll it takes on their life and their family’s life is profound. By us being able to put together a team of folks to give that back to them, it’s very difficult to put a price on. We’ve been able to put together a system of not only nonsurgical but surgical options to help them get that back.”

He works with teams at Tallahassee Memorial and at Southeastern Plastic Surgery to facilitate a system of treatment that includes pre-operative treatment, surgery and post-operative treatment in order to achieve the best results for his patients. He also often partners with Dr. Kirbo and Dr. Rosenberg to perform reconstructive surgeries. He’s found that 2 extra sets of hands can be extremely valuable; “you’re in the wound together talking about the problem an identifying the solution. You have 3 very well-trained surgeons who are all working for the best outcome for everybody’s patients.”

At Southeastern Plastic Surgery, the patient comes first. Dr. DeRosier’s dedicated team, Brittany his Nurse Practitioner and Patient Coordinator, and Robin and Lisa, are welcoming and friendly faces for his patients who care for you as an individual. Having that individualized care from a dedicated team makes a big difference to our patients.

Reconstructive surgery requires creative thinking to achieve the best possible outcome for his patients. Seeing patients who’ve come through a reconstructive procedure and giving them the chance to live their life again is very rewarding. “This job requires a lot of sacrifice. It makes the sacrifice worth it.”

“Our ultimate goal, with seeing [reconstructive surgery patients] and being their physician, is to get them back to where they were before they needed reconstructive surgery. Our goal is not to do surgery. Surgery is just one part of what they do to get back to where they were before they needed reconstructive surgery.”

“Dr DeRosier is not just skilled; he is professional and congenial. He has kept me on top every step of the way. It was due to his skill and excellent communication about after care, I’m healthier now than I was before I became ill. I recommend him highly.” – I.D., Healthgrades

Specialties

Dr. DeRosier specializes in reconstructive surgery for the face, breast, and body. Some of his specialties include abdominal wall reconstructions on patients who’ve had multiple failed hernia surgeries and whose quality of life has suffered because of the wound, finding a successful solution for lower extremity wounds, people who are facing amputation, to enable patients to keep their leg and keep it working as before, and breast reconstruction – a mastectomy takes both a mental and physical toll on a woman and being able to offer options with implants  reconstruction is life-changing. He says, “It’s most interesting to see them in 1 year. They’re back in their life and it’s very rewarding.”

His goal is to get his patients healthy and back to what they were doing before they needed to come to his practice, restoring form and function to restore patients’ quality of life.

Dr. DeRosier’s leadership in the field of reconstruction has resulted in Southeastern Plastic Surgery, P.A. becoming a regional referral center for secondary and tertiary abdominal wall reconstruction and limb salvage reconstruction. This allows patients to stay close to home and receive the individualized care they need.

Leadership

Recognized nationally, Dr. DeRosier offers his expertise during multiple grand rounds and lectures to many medical centers throughout the United States. He has provided leadership to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and the medical community by serving as Chairman of the Department of Surgery, Medical Director of the Skin and Soft Tissue Center, and was most recently elected to the Medical Executive Committee.

He lectures regularly at regional and national plastic surgery and orthopedic society conferences, sharing his expertise with his peers and taking the opportunity to learn from them.

Associations

  • American Board of Plastic Surgery
  • Alabama Medical Association
  • Florida Medical Association
  • Capital Medical Society
  • American Medical Association

Publications

Dr. DeRosier has written many abstracts, manuscripts and contributed chapters on wound care and reconstructive plastic surgery. As a result of his training and research, he is an editorial board member of the Annals of Plastic Surgery.

Published Abstracts

  1. DeRosier LC, Oliver PG, Buchsbaum DJ, Vickers SM: Combination treatment with TRA-8 antibody to death receptor 5 and chemotherapy agents induces cell death in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Digestive Disease Week 2005, Chicago, IL, May 14-19, 2005.
  2. Buchsbaum DJ, DeRosier LC, Sellers JC, Huang Z-q, Oliver PG, Vickers SM: Treatment of pancreatic cancer with TRA-8 anti-death receptor 5 antibody in combination with chemotherapy. The 13th SPORE Investigators Workshop, July 9-12, 2005, p. 190, Washington, DC, 2005.
  3. DeRosier LC, Buchsbaum DJ, Sellers JC, Huang ZQ, Oliver PG, Vickers SM: Treatment of pancreatic cancer with anti-death receptor antibody in combination with gemcitabine. 60th Annual Surgical Forum at the American College of Surgeons 91st Annual Clinical Congress, San Francisco, CA, October 16-20, 2005.
  4. DeRosier LC, Buchsbaum DJ, Sellers JC, Huang ZQ, Oliver PG, Vickers SM: Combination of irinotecan and anti-death receptor 5 antibody inhibits pancreatic cancer in an orthotopic tumor model. The Society of University Surgeons Meeting, San Diego, CA, February 7-11, 2006.
  5. DeRosier LC, Huang ZQ, Sellers JC, Zinn K, Buchsbaum DJ, Vickers SM: Combination therapy with TRA-8 anti-death receptor-5 antibody significantly reduces pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell viability in vitro and growth in vivo. The Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract 47th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, May 20-25, 2006.
  6. Buchsbaum DJ, DeRosier LC, Sellers JC, Vickers SM, Zinn KR: Ultrasound imaging to monitor response of orthotopic pancreatic cancer xenografts treated with TRA-8 anti-DR5 MAb and gemcitabine. J Nucl Med 47:427P-428P, 2006.
  7. DeRosier LC, Vickers SM, Zinn KR, LoBuglio AF, Wang W, Buchsbaum DJ: Treatment of orthotopic pancreatic cancer xenografts with TRA-8 anti-DR5 antibody and chemotherapy. Cancer Biother Radiopharm 21:384, 2006.
  8. DeRosier L, Buchsbaum D, Sellers J, Huang Z, Oliver P, Wang W, Zinn K, Vickers S: Combination treatment with an agonistic anti-death receptor-5 antibody (TRA-8) and irinotecan (CPT-11) increases survival in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. The 2nd Annual Academic Surgical Congress, Phoenix, AZ, February 6-9, 2007.
  9. Long JW, DeRosier LC, Vickers SM, Sellers J, Wang W, Arnoletti JP, Buchsbaum DJ: TRA-8 (TRAIL-R2 antibody) based combination chemotherapy produces a survival benefit in a pancreatic cancer orthotopic model. The 2nd Annual Academic Surgical Congress, Phoenix, AZ, February 6-9, 2007.

Manuscripts:

  1. Ziemba A, DeRosier LC, Methvin R, Song CY, Clary E, Kahn W, Milesi D, Reed M, Ebbinghaus S.: Repair of triplex-directed DNA alkylation by nucleotide excision repair. Nucleic Acids Research 2001 Nov 1: 29(21): 4257-63.
  2. DeRosier LC, Huang Z-Q, Sellers JC, Buchsbaum DJ, Vickers SM: Treatment with gemcitabine and TRA-8 anti-death receptor-5 mAb reduces pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell viability in vitro and growth in vivo. J Gastrointest Surg 10:1291-1300, 2006.
  3. DeRosier, LC, Buchsbaum DJ, Oliver PG, Huang Z-Q, Sellers JC, Grizzle WE, Zhou T, Zinn KR, Vickers SM: Combination treatment with TRA-8 anti-death receptor-5 antibody and CPT-11 induces tumor regression in an orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res13:5535s-5543s, 2007.
  4. DeRosier LC, Vickers SM, Zinn KR, Huang Z, Wang W, Grizzle WE, Sellers JC, Stockard CR, Zhou T, Oliver PG, Arnoletti JP, LoBuglio AF, Buchsbaum DJ:  TRA-8 anti-DR5 monoclonal antibody and gemcitabine induce apoptosis and inhibit radiologically validated orthotopic pancreatic tumor growth.  Mol Cancer Ther6:3198-3207 2007.
  5. Piorkowski JR, DeRosier LC, Nickerson P, Fix RJ:  Preoperative computed tomography angiogram to predict patients with favorable anatomy for Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Flap breast reconstruction.   Annals of Plastic Surgery 66: 534-536, 2011.

Book Chapters:

  1. DeRosier L.C., Canon C., Vickers S.M.: Hepatic Abscess. Shakelford’s Surgery of the Alimentary Tract 6th edition, Dr. Charles J. Yeo (ed.) Elsevier Philadelphia PA.
  2. Reiff, D., DeRosier, L. C.  Rue, L.W.: Oxygenation and Ventilation. Trauma: Contemporary Principles and Therapy, edited by Drs. Flint, Meredith, Taheri, Schwab, Trunkey, and Rue.

If you would like to meet with Dr. DeRosier or another plastic surgeon at our Tallahassee, FL practice, please request a consultation online or call (850) 219-2000. He is happy to meet with patients traveling from Destin and Lake City, FL, Dothan, AL, and Valdosta, GA.

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