Plastic, Reconstructive and Craniofacial Surgeon

Dr. McKay McKinnon is a plastic, reconstructive and craniofacial surgeon with the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. He earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. Dr. McKinnon completed a residency in surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He pursued a fellowship in plastic surgery at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts. He then continued training with a postgraduate residency at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. After finishing his postgraduate residency, Dr. McKinnon pursued a fellowship in craniofacial surgery with Dr. Anthony Wolfe at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. He then acquired further training in craniofacial surgery with an additional fellowship under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Tessier in Paris, France.  

Dr. McKinnon has been practicing plastic surgery since 1984. He served on the surgical faculty of the University of Chicago for 24 years, during which time he introduced and taught craniofacial surgery and developed new procedures for patients with cleft lip and craniofacial anomalies with a focus on neurofibromatosis. He is recognized internationally as a leader in neurofibroma care and has treated patients from all over the U.S. and abroad.  

Dr. McKinnon is board certified in plastic surgery. He is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Society of Craniofacial Surgeons, International Society of Craniofacial Surgeons, American Association of Plastic Surgeons, Midwestern Association of Plastic Surgeons, D. Ralph Millard Society and Illinois Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is also president and founder of SurgerySOS, a charitable 501(c)(3) organization that promotes advanced surgical solutions to patients worldwide with craniofacial conditions and complex body tumors. His work has been published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, he has written numerous chapters for medical textbooks and presented at national and global medical conferences. For more than 25 years, Dr. McKinnon has organized and led surgical mission trips with plastic surgery residents to Choluteca, Honduras. Since 2011, he has conducted ongoing tumor and craniofacial surgical missions in Vietnam and was the first to introduce craniofacial surgery to the principal university training programs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

Dr. McKinnon is employed by Nicklaus Children’s Pediatric Specialists (NCPS), the physician-led multispecialty medical group practice of Nicklaus Children’s Health System.