International Academy of Surgical & Aesthetic Medical Education

A structured educational approach to surgical wound management, aesthetic closure and scar optimization.

Dr. S. Nouri RafieePhysicianMedical EducatorFounder & Academic Director
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A needle holder clamping a curved suture needle threaded with fine blue monofilament, resting on ivory linen.
Flagship programWound-to-Scar™From the first assessment to the final scar.
  1. Assess
  2. Plan
  3. Handle
  4. Close
  5. Protect
  6. Follow-up
Portrait of Dr. S. Nouri Rafiee, physician and medical educator.

Dr. S. Nouri Rafiee

Physician, Medical Educator, Founder & Academic Director

A physician and medical educator, with postgraduate training in plastic surgery in Argentina and more than twenty years of clinical experience in Argentina and Spain.

Plastic surgery is the specialty in which the scar is part of the result. Rafiee Academy seeks to bring that perspective to every clinician who closes a wound: the decisions made in the first minutes, about whether, when and how to close, shape what the patient lives with for years.

The Academy grew out of that clinical experience and out of an observation that returns again and again in clinical practice: knowing how to close a wound is not the same as knowing whether it should be closed. It exists to teach that whole judgment, not only the technique at its center.

I teach physicians to think about the final scar from the moment they encounter the wound.

20+ years
of clinical and surgical practice in Argentina and Spain
University of Buenos Aires
degree in medicine and postgraduate training in plastic surgery
Practicing physician
medical director of Medicalesthetic, Madrid
Training and experience

Vision

To contribute to the development of a generation of healthcare professionals who combine sound clinical judgment, practical competence, technical precision and aesthetic sensitivity in the management of patients.

Five educational pillars

  1. Clinical judgment
  2. Practical clinical skills
  3. Wound & scar optimization
  4. Minimally invasive & aesthetic practice
  5. Safety, ethics & responsible practice
Mission, vision and pillars

Bridging the gap between clinical knowledge and practical decision-making.

Medical education provides a strong foundation in scientific knowledge and clinical principles. The transition from that knowledge to practical procedural competence, however, can vary considerably across training environments.

Wound assessment, tissue handling, closure technique, scar optimization, clinical judgment and appropriate referral may not always be taught as one structured, continuous process. A physician may know how to close a wound, yet still face a more complex set of questions.

Gloved hands holding surgical forceps and a needle holder above a silicone skin simulation pad.

The questions behind every closure

  1. What should be done first?

    Taught inAssess

  2. How should the tissues be handled?

    Taught inHandle

  3. Should the wound be closed at all?

    Taught inPlan

  4. What approach best protects function and future healing?

    Taught inClose · Protect

  5. When should intervention stop, and when should a specialist be involved?

    Taught inFollow-up · Referral

The Rafiee Wound-to-Scar™ Approach was developed to address this gap. It brings clinical assessment, practical skills, patient safety and aesthetic awareness into one structured approach that considers the potential scar from the earliest stage of wound management.

From treating the wound to understanding the journey from wound to scar.

Read about the educational gap

The Rafiee Educational Approach

Not only how to perform a procedure.

Health professionals should learn when to perform it, why, how to perform it safely, how to evaluate the result, when not to intervene and when a specialist should be involved. The approach expresses that principle as six phases of one continuous clinical judgment.

Where procedural teaching usually stops

How to perform a procedure

What the approach teaches with the same weight

  1. When to perform it
  2. Why to perform it
  3. How to perform it safely
  4. How to evaluate the result
  5. When not to intervene
  6. When specialist referral is required

  1. Assess

    What is in front of me, and what does it need?

    A structured clinical assessment of the patient and the wound before any decision is made: mechanism, location, contamination, tissue viability, function at risk and the patient’s own context.

  2. Plan

    Should this wound be closed, and if so, how and by whom?

    Deciding the objective before the technique: timing, method of closure, anesthesia, the likely scar and its orientation, and whether the case belongs with a specialist.

  3. Handle

    How should the tissues be treated?

    Respectful tissue handling as a clinical skill in its own right: preparation, debridement when indicated, atraumatic technique and the preservation of what will be needed to heal well.

  4. Close

    Which closure protects function and future healing?

    Choosing and executing a closure that restores alignment without excess tension: layered repair when appropriate, edge eversion, and suture selection matched to site and purpose.

  5. Protect

    What protects the wound while it heals?

    Care of the repair after the last stitch: dressing, tension management, infection awareness, patient instructions and the early measures that influence how a scar matures.

  6. Follow-up

    Is healing on course, and when should someone else be involved?

    Reviewing healing and scar maturation over time, recognizing complications early, and knowing when intervention should stop and specialist referral should begin.

StatusFramework developed. Pilot implementation and evaluation in development.

Explore the educational approach

Flagship program

Wound-to-Scar™

Structured Surgical Wound Management & Scar Optimization

From the first assessment to the final scar.

Wound-to-Scar™ is the flagship educational program of Rafiee Academy, designed to teach physicians how to approach wounds and minor surgical injuries as a continuous clinical process, from initial assessment and tissue management to closure, protection, healing and follow-up.

The program integrates clinical judgment, wound management, surgical technique and aesthetic principles, with particular emphasis on knowing not only how to close a wound, but when to intervene, how to preserve tissue, when not to close, and when specialist referral is required.

For
Physicians and physicians in training
Format
To be announced
Macro study of fine suture thread crossing a softly lit, textured surface.

The Wound-to-Scar™ journey

  1. Assess
  2. Plan
  3. Handle
  4. Close
  5. Protect
  6. Follow-up

What the program addresses

  1. Wound assessment and classification
  2. Depth, anatomy and tissue involvement
  3. Wound cleaning and antisepsis
  4. Bleeding and minor trauma management
  5. Decision-making: when to close, delay closure or refer
  6. Tissue handling and atraumatic technique
  7. Suture, needle and closure selection
  8. Aesthetic closure of facial and body wounds
  9. Layered and intradermal closure
  10. Management of contaminated or infected wounds
  11. Prevention and optimization of scarring
  12. Wound protection and follow-up
  13. Management of poorly closed wounds and scar correction
  14. Clinical cases, simulation and practical assessment
The central principle

The scar begins with the way the wound is assessed, handled and closed.

Educational statusFlagship program · In development

Explore the curriculum

Educational programs

Four core programs, one educational framework.

The core programs form the foundation of the curriculum. Each applies the same approach to a different field of practice, from the first procedure to safe aesthetic practice.

  1. Wound-to-Scar™

    Structured Surgical Wound Management & Scar Optimization6 modules · 27 topics    Flagship · In development

  2. Foundations of Clinical & Minimally Invasive Procedural Medicine

    Fundamental clinical and procedural skills6 modules · 20 topicsEntry point    In development

  3. Aesthetic Surgical Skills for Physicians

    Aesthetic analysis, local flaps, plasties and fine technique5 modules · 18 topics    In development

  4. Clinical Aesthetic Practice & Patient Safety

    Safe clinical practice and decision-making in aesthetic medicine5 modules · 27 topics    In development
Advanced & specialized · 06 to 08Three programs that build on the coreClinical simulation and assessment · Aesthetic consultation, ethics and practice · Clinical imaging and ultrasoundResearch line · 05Wound biology, genetics & regenerative medicineStudied as research. Not currently offered as teaching.
All eight programs and their status

From knowledge to practice, in eight steps.

Teaching moves in a deliberate order, so that each skill is understood, seen and rehearsed before it is performed, and reviewed after it is.

How the Academy teaches
A silicone suture practice pad with a completed row of fine sutures, a needle holder and forceps beside it.

  1. Foundational knowledge

    The anatomy, wound biology and clinical principles that every later decision depends on.

  2. Demonstration

    Each technique is shown in full and then broken into its steps, with the reasoning behind each one made explicit.

  3. Simulation

    Practice on simulation models, where repetition and error carry no risk to patients.

  4. Supervised practice

    Skills are performed under direct supervision, with the level of supervision matched to the learner.

  5. Case-based learning

    Real clinical scenarios, discussed without identifiable patient data, to train judgment rather than technique alone.

  6. Feedback

    Specific, timely feedback on technique and on the decisions that preceded it.

  7. Assessment

    Structured assessment of what has been learned, across knowledge, skill and judgment.

  8. Continued development

    Learning does not end with a course: review, reflection and return visits consolidate practice.

Assessing judgment, not only technique.

The Academy is developing a structured assessment framework. It will look at seven domains, and later at whether learning lasts and carries over into practice.

Knowledge

Understanding of wound biology, anatomy and the principles behind each clinical choice.

Technical skills

Tissue handling, closure technique and instrument use, observed directly.

Clinical judgment

Choosing what to do, in what order and why, when the case is not a textbook one.

Patient safety

Anticipating risk, preventing avoidable harm and recognizing complications early.

Decision-making

Including the decisions not to close, not to intervene and to refer.

Learner confidence

How prepared learners feel, measured alongside what they can demonstrably do.

Retention & transfer

Whether learning lasts over time and carries over into clinical practice.

Assessment framework in development. These domains describe what will be assessed; no results have been collected yet.

The assessment framework

Research

Where the project stands today.

  1. Educational framework

    Developed

  2. Pilot implementation

    In development

  3. Evaluation

    In development

  4. Publication & dissemination

    As results become available

What future research may evaluate

  • Learning outcomes
  • Technical performance
  • Clinical decision-making
  • Safety awareness
  • Learner experience
  • Transfer of learning
Research at the Academy

Publications

Research and educational publications will appear here as the project develops. Nothing is listed before it exists.

Research papers, Educational publications, Conference presentations, Abstracts, Educational resources.

Publications

Open to academic collaboration.

With

  • Academic institutions
  • Universities & academic medical centers
  • Medical educators
  • Researchers
  • Surgical educators
  • Healthcare organizations
  • Health-professions education networks

In

  • Curriculum development
  • Educational research
  • Research methodology & study design
  • Pilot implementation
  • Assessment
  • Faculty collaboration
  • International dissemination
Discuss a collaboration

Questions physicians ask before registering.

Straight answers about who the programs are for, how they are taught and what registering interest involves.

Who are the programs for?

According to the scope of each program: medical students with appropriate clinical preparation, newly graduated and resident physicians, practicing physicians and specialists, general practitioners, emergency and outpatient physicians, dermatologists and aesthetic physicians, and healthcare professionals involved in wound and procedural care. Each program page states its intended audience.

Is the teaching hands-on?

The programs are designed to move from foundational knowledge and demonstration to simulation and supervised practice. Technique is to be rehearsed on simulation models before it is performed under supervision.

When does the first edition start, and in what format?

Format, dates and venue have not been announced yet. Registering interest is the way to hear first, and to tell the Academy which format would suit your practice.

Are the programs accredited for CPD or CME?

No. The programs are not currently accredited for CPD or CME credit. Any accreditation will be stated only once it has been granted.

What does registering interest commit me to?

Nothing. There are no fees and no enrollment at this stage. Your details are used only to contact you about the programs you select, and you can ask for them to be deleted at any time.

Is Rafiee Academy a clinic?

No. It is an educational initiative for health professionals. It does not provide patient care or medical consultations through this site.

Academic & Research Inquiries

Dr. S. Nouri Rafiee

Physician | Medical Educator
Founder & Academic Director, Rafiee Academy

Contact Dr. Rafiee Register interest