Dr. Norman Weinzweig is a highly experienced hand specialist and reconstructive surgeon who founded The Chicago Institute for Hand Surgery & Rehabilitation, a major state-of-the-art referral center for patients from Chicago and surrounding areas that draws patients from across the country and around the world. His cases range from simple hand conditions treated non-operatively to very complex multi-staged surgeries, such as replantation of amputated fingers and hands, that require microsurgical expertise. He is recognized as an accomplished hand specialist and is frequently consulted by his peers for his clinical experience and expertise in the acute and chronic care of severely traumatized hand injuries that occur in industrial and other accidents.
For more than 25 years, Dr. Norman Weinzweig been performing highly complex hand and microvascular surgery, replanting and revascularizing amputated digits and hands, treating mutilating injuries of the upper extremity, nerve injuries, burns as well as stiff functionless digits and hands due to severe scar contractures in the United States. Dr. Norman Weinzweig advocates a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of these complex hand problems producing superb clinical outcomes.
A native New Yorker, Dr. Norman Weinzweig graduated valedictorian from Evander Childs High School following which he received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in General Surgery at Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center and his residency in Plastic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Weinzweig also served as Honorary Registrar at Canniesburn Hospital, the West of Scotland Regional Plastic and Oral Surgery Unit, a renowned plastic surgery unit known worldwide.
Dr. Norman Weinzweig is Board Certified in Plastic Surgery from the American Board of Plastic Surgery since 1990 and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons since 1993. He is also Board Certified in Hand Surgery, having attained the Certificate of Added Qualifications in Hand Surgery in 1992 and recertified in 2002 and 2012. Dr. Weinzweig has built his career in academics and his clinical practice at several major university centers, spending his last 22 years in Chicago. In 2003, he ventured into private practice exclusively devoted to the management of hand conditions, from the simple to the most severe ones. Currently, he is on staff at many hospitals throughout Chicago including Rush University Medical Center, Loyola University Health Center with an appointment as Lecturer in Plastic Surgery, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, Advocate Christ Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, Northshore University Health Systems, Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Presence Resurrection Hospital among others.
With 104 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 38 book chapters, 87 scientific abstracts, 5 educational videotapes, and over 250 regional, national and international presentations, Dr. Norman Weinzweig has contributed extensively to the fields of plastic surgery and hand surgery. He also co-edited the 650-page textbook THE MUTILATED HAND, with a comprehensive focus solely on the acute management and post-traumatic reconstruction of devastating hand injuries. His specific areas of basic science and clinical research include reconstruction of the mutilated hand, limb transplantation, nerve regeneration, burns and wound healing. Dr. Weinzweig’s innovative work in burn therapy has generated a patent for his invention to help hand burn patients.
Dr. Norman Weinzweig’s practice philosophy emphasizes the integration of superb surgical skills and keen clinical acumen based on more than 25 years of experience in the field with the highest quality individualized patient care and compassion to do what is best for the patient. A powerful advocate for patient care, education and research, Dr. Weinzweig is dedicated to utilizing state-of-the-art technology and a multidisciplinary approach to challenging hand conditions to achieve clinical excellence.