Division Chief of Plastic Surgery

Dr. Caterson is a Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon with extensive humanitarian burn and craniofacial work. He is currently the Surgeon in Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Delaware. E.J. began his career as a firefighter and EMT in the pre-ho spital environment and became a plastic surgeon after his residency in Plastic and Reconstructive at the Harvard Program in Boston. He also completed a Craniofacial Surgery fellowship at NYU. Dr. Caterson became a plastic surgeon in part because of the profound impact reconstructive surgery can play in global health and humanitarian intervention. He has worked for Operation Smile, Sons of the Flag, and other aid groups as well as the US Department of Defense and Walter Reed National Medical Center. He is an active member of the Health and Human Services: Trauma Critical Care (TCCT) team formally known as the (IMSuRT team), which is the US Gov. disaster medical team chartered to respond both within our Nation’s borders and internationally. In these roles, he has served medically and performed surgery in numerous countries including every continent except for Antarctica. Dr Caterson has a PhD doctorate in Tissue Engineering in addition to his MD degree; with his doctoral work completed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Jefferson Medical College and Drexel school of Engineering. His research is in regenerative medicine including mesenchymal stem cell work, and novel therapies to build back tissue damaged by disease and trauma. This work includes work on cartilage, skin, skeletal muscle, and neuronal regenerative strategies with additional focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI). E.J. is passionate about leadership and organizational excellence with a particular interest in high functioning teams. He is part of the “Human Performance Project” to codify the effort to translate the extremes of human performance and Arete into a manual to help the DOD, first responders, and other mission critical organizations: attain, maintain, and reestablish apex performance.