At Premier Aesthetics, our team is led by our medical director and board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Leo Urbinelli, MD, MA, FAAP. He and his team are dedicated to providing the best patient experience while achieving your aesthetic/reconstructive goals. We specialize in a wide range of plastic surgical and non-surgical procedures and treatments, to ensure each patient receives personalized attention and outstanding care.
Dr. Urbinelli is passionate in providing care for adults and children who require facial, breast, or body reconstructive procedures, and he has dedicated his career to cosmetic and/or functional enhancements for patients for over 15 years. This is beyond his long journey of scientific study in his college days and beyond.
As a native Upstate, New Yorker Dr. Urbinelli chose to pursue his undergraduate degree close to home, at Cornell University, where he balanced his academics with his athletic endeavors as a Division 1 athlete in wrestling. After college, he chose to pursue a medical research Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, MA While there, he worked alongside excellent mentors who encouraged him to pursue a career in medicine. While continuing his research and thesis work, he completed a Master's Degree in Medical Sciences from Boston University School of Medicine. After this he was confident medicine would be his devotion and he returned to Upstate, NY to complete a M.D. degree at SUNY Upstate Medical University at Syracuse, NY. It was here he fell in love with human anatomy and the detailed hands-on work and impact surgery entailed. (More importantly, it was in medical school where he met the love of his life, Lindsay..more to come later).
After finishing at the top of his class in medical school, and being elected into the AOA National Honor Society he obtained his top choice of residency in plastic surgery at the prestigious NYU School of Medicine's Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery (IRPS) - often regarded and ranked as the top plastic surgery residency in the US. It was here that he had the opportunity to learn from the best and brightest leaders of the field of plastic surgery - under the mentorship of Drs. Joseph McCarthy (pioneer of Craniofacial Surgery and distraction osteogenesis) and Eduardo Rodriguez (credited with matching Microsurgery w/Craniofacial surgery for the uniquely complex patients - including performing the most complete face transplant surgeries to date); Aesthetic and Reconstructive Leaders such as Drs. Charles Thorne, Sherrell Ashton, Alan Matarasso, Daniel Baker, Nicholas Tabbal, Nolan Karp, Jamie Levine, David Staffenberg, Robert Allen Sr. (pioneer of the DIEP free flap for breast reconstruction), Babak Mehrara, Peter Cordeiro, Joseph Disa, Andrea Pusic, David Chiu, and many others who have had huge impacts in the field of plastic surgery. He spent numerous months of dedicated cosmetic and reconstructive training at the largest cosmetic hospital in the US, Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital (MEETH), one of the top dedicated cancer centers in the US, Memorial Sloane Kettering (MSKCC), as well as the oldest public hospital in the US, Bellevue Hospital.
After these fantastic experiences, Dr. Urbinelli chose to gain additional training and expertise beyond standard residency training by pursuing a post-graduate fellowship, and adjunct faculty position at the University of Southern California (USC)/Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) Pediatric Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship Program under Dr. Mark Urata (chairman of both USC Plastic Surgery and Oral Surgery Programs). This program is the largest volume and one of the top Craniofacial programs in N. America. There in LA, he worked alongside colleagues at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, St. John's Hospital, CHLA and Kaiser Los Angeles where he gained new approaches and a "bicoastal" perspective towards his approach in which he uses today.
After completing Fellowship in Los Angeles, he was then recruited to lead and serve as Assistant Professor and Pediatric Plastic Surgery Chief and Co-Director for the Cleft and Craniofacial Program at Oregon Health & Science Univerisity (OHSU)/Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, OR. Here, he led medical students, residents and other physicians and staff in the multi-disciplinary care of complex reconstructive and cosmetic patients in the greater PNW area (covering cases from N. California, Washington, Idaho and Montana). After 5 years in this role, he chose to step away from his academic hospital-based role and chose to a new path to serve as Medical Director and founder of PNW Plastic Surgery.
After establishing a busy and thriving practice at PNW Plastic Surgery he and his wife, Lindsay (also a native of Upstate, NY), felt the strain of being far from family on the E. Coast. They made the bittersweet decision to move back to Upstate, NY (difficult to leave their practices, patients and friends from the PNW, but happy to be coming home again!)
Dr. Urbinelli has now returned to Upstate NY to offer his unique, personalized surgical services to patients locally here in Central New York (CNY) and beyond (for those that travel in from afar to seek his services). His mission is to create a practice for adult and pediatric patients to come and receive personalized care, with fine-attention to detail and a commitment to excellent service with a refined touch - "where patients are treated like family".
Dr. Urbinelli's diverse experience, his unique collection of skills and knowledge have allowed him to offer world-class, advanced approaches in plastic surgery with natural results to Upstate, NY not previously available. His focus on individualized care and a refusal to use adhere to a "one size fits all" approach for his patients, allows bespoke plastic surgery catered to the goals of each individual patient.
For patients seeking the most comprehensive, natural approach to restoring their beauty and confidence, look no further and see for yourself our commitment to exceptional care and reproducibly excellent outcomes.