The television cameras captured something unusual for a medical documentary: a surgeon who seemed equally at home in a high-end New York operating suite and a makeshift clinic in Southeast Asia. Facing Trauma, the 2011 reality series featuring Dr. Andrew Jacono, brought wide attention to a humanitarian practice that had been quietly growing for years before the cameras arrived.
Dr. Jacono’s path into reconstructive humanitarian work traces to medical school, where he witnessed firsthand how surgery for a cleft lip and palate could change a child’s social world overnight. That observation shaped a career that now spans two distinct humanitarian commitments: pro bono facial reconstruction for domestic violence survivors and international pediatric missions.
The Television Platform and What It Revealed
Facing Trauma aired on Discovery Fit & Health in 2011 and later on the Oprah Winfrey Network, following Dr. Andrew Jacono through reconstructive surgeries for victims of domestic violence and traumatic injury. The show illuminated a medical reality that rarely appears in mainstream coverage: facial disfigurement from abuse creates barriers that extend far beyond appearance, affecting employment prospects and psychological recovery.
The visibility generated by the series complemented recognition Dr. Jacono had already earned. The Center for the Women of New York presented him with a “Good Guy” Award in 2006. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy formally acknowledged his work in the Congressional Record. For nine years, he also served as chair of ABOUT FACE: MAKING CHANGES, a benefit dedicated to domestic violence survivors.
Through the FACE TO FACE program of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, where he serves as senior advisor, Dr. Andrew Jacono has now performed pro bono facial reconstructions for more than 100 survivors of abuse.
A Global Reach for Pediatric Patients
The international dimension of Dr. Jacono’s work has delivered surgical care to more than 750 children in countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, and Vietnam. He works with Healing the Children, the HUGS Foundation, and THAI Children, typically completing two missions per year. The conditions he treats, including cleft lip and palate, microtia, facial tumors, and burn scars, carry heavy social consequences in communities where affected children often face exclusion from school and community life.
His fundraising efforts extend to mountaineering, with climbs of Kilimanjaro, Cotopaxi, and Elbrus completed to support both domestic and international causes. As Fellowship Director for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and in academic roles at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and North Shore University Hospital, Dr. Jacono also works to institutionalize humanitarian surgery as a core professional value. Read this article for additional information.
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