Caroline Yao headshot

Caroline A. Yao, MD

Specialties
  • Plastic Surgery
Languages Spoken:
  • English
  • Mandarin

Caroline Yao, M.D., MS, is a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. She is the assistant director of the cleft lip and palate program at Shriners Children's Southern California.

Dr. Yao received her undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton University and a medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed residency in plastic surgery at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine and a fellowship in craniofacial surgery at Boston Children's Hospital.

Areas of interest include facial plastic surgery, rhinoplasty, cleft lip and palate, ear deformities, speech improving surgery for the cleft palate (velopharyngeal insufficiency), burns, giant nevus and hemifacial microsomia.

Dr. Yao is a volunteer faculty member at the division of plastic surgery of the University of Southern California, and a research affiliate at Boston Children's Hospital of Harvard University. Since 2013, she has been a research consultant for Operation Smile International, an international children's medical charity.

As a mother, artist and surgeon, Dr. Yao is passionate about getting to know every one of her patients by listening carefully and understanding goals. She works hard to design the best treatment plan for each individual.

Pediatric Care

Specialties

More About Me

Board Certifications
  • American Board of Plastic Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Plastic Surgery - General
Education and Training

Medical Education
Columbia University - College of Physicians & Surgeons
New York, NY
United States of America
5/18/2010

Residency
LAC & USC
Los Angeles, CA
United States of America
6/29/2018

Fellowship
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, MA
United States of America
6/28/2019

Academic Positions and Locations

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Associate Professor

Awards and Honors
  • 2021, Top Doctor Pasadena
Academic Lectures and Presentations
  • Presentation: The American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Annual Meeting - Natural Trajectory Of Midface Growth In Unoperated Cleft Defects: A Systematic Review And Meta-analysis (03/2020)
  • Presentation: The American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association Annual Meeting - A Competency Assessment Tool for Unilateral Cleft Lip Repair (03/2020)
  • Presentation: American Society of Plastic Surgery Annual Meeting - Convolutional Neural Network Models for Automatic Pre-Operative Severity Assessment in Unilateral Cleft Lip (11/2019)
  • Presentation: Plastic Surgery Research Council, The Smile Index Part 2: A Simple, Prognostic Severity Scale for Unilateral Cleft Lip (09/2016)
  • Presentation: American Association of Plastic Surgeons - The Smile Index: Part 1 A Large-Scale Study of Phenotypic Norms for Pre- and Post-Operative Unilateral Cleft Lip (09/2016)

Ratings

About the Patient Experience Rating System

The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to care provider related questions on our nationally-recognized Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score. 

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