Paris D. Butler, MD, MPH, is a board-certified plastic surgeon who provides a variety of surgeries that restore form and function, including reconstructive surgeries for women who have undergone mastectomies to treat breast cancer. Dr. Butler performs a significant number of breast reduction and breast lift surgeries (many of which are covered by insurance). He also provides body contouring operations for patients who have undergone massive weight loss either through traditional exercise and diet or bariatric surgery. Additionally, Dr. Butler offers aesthetic surgeries, including abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, breast implant removal (with capsulectomy), and liposuction.
“My interest in science, technology, and innovation started very early in life,” says Dr. Butler. “I have also always wanted to help people and serve my community. So, medicine was the perfect choice for me.”
Dr. Butler takes time to get to know his patients, understanding that each one is going through their own personal journey. He often sees himself as an important member of a team—for patients with cancer, that may mean working alongside a breast surgeon, a medical oncologist, and a radiation oncologist, among other specialists, to determine the best treatment for their unique disease and situation.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Butler is nationally recognized for his dedication to reducing health care disparities along ethnic lines—an area he has approached with research, policy, and teaching, and in leadership roles in several national organizations.
At Yale, he is the Department of Surgery’s first vice chair of diversity, equity, and inclusion, leading efforts of recruitment and retention of physicians and surgeons from marginalized populations, in addition to research efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Diversity is at the center of our responsibility to transform health care and lead academic medicine into the future,” he says.
