Colonel (ret) Kerry P. Latham, MD, USAF

I want to thank Dr. Latham, for serving as the guest editor for this issue of Seminars in Plastic Surgery on “Ballistic Facial Injuries” and for her 27 years of military service to our country. Dr. Latham entered the Air Force through Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) in 1996 after graduating at Princeton University. She completed the residency in General Surgery at Wilford Hall Medical Center, TX and Plastic Surgery in Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Fl. She completed a Craniofacial Fellowship at Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA.

Dr. Latham retired from the Air Force in 2024 as the Deputy Chair of the Department of Surgery at USUHS prior to starting private practice in Anchorage Alaska. She was the Plastic Surgery Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General and practiced plastic surgery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from 2011-2024. She is a graduated squadron commander, deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, and lead more than a dozen short-term overseas surgical and training missions.

She is an international speaker and educator on trauma and has authored more than 20 peer-review journals, and three book chapters. She is a dedicated teacher and academic mentor as an Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at USU department of Surgery.

We thank Dr. Latham for her passion for the care of patients with facial trauma, grounded in her combat experiences and her military service. We also appreciate the efforts made by each outstanding author she has invited to contribute to this issue.

Dr. Latham has an interest in conflicts but no conflicts of interest.

Publication History

Article published online:
26 March 2025