Associate Professor Felix Behan AM

Congratulations to Associate Professor Felix Behan AM, who was recently appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day 2024 Honours List for significant service to medicine, particularly reconstructive surgery.

While working at Footscray Mr Behan invented an internationally acclaimed surgical technique, known as a Keystone Perforator Island Flap, to repair skin defects caused by a trauma injury or the removal of a tumour.

The technique involves transferring and rearranging a patient’s skin and tissue using keystone fascio-cutaneous flap reconstructions dermatomally aligned to repair the skin defect. The procedure reduces the length of time a patient stays in hospital by up to 50 per cent.

It is considered a simpler, more efficient and cost effective alternative to some microsurgical procedures.

Mr Behan is an associate professor of surgery at Melbourne University and a senior surgeon at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has published numerous textbooks on surgical techniques using the Keystone Perforator Island Flap, including his most recent book, Surgical Tips and Skills.

The eminent plastic surgeon Professor Donald Marshall, AM, wrote the book’s foreword. He said Associate Professor Behan’s innovative keystone flap technique was based on classical skills in plastic surgery - local tissue re-arrangement and repair - that had been overshadowed by cosmetic and microsurgery over the past 50 years.

“With the passage of time and the tightening of resources, there will inevitably be more scrutiny by health administrators of the cost of plastic surgery procedures,” Professor Marshall said. “It will become increasingly difficult to justify operations that require expensive resources, multiple surgeons and prolonged operating times when there are simple, less expensive alternatives readily available to produce results often superior in terms of function and appearance.

“ Associate Professor Behan AM has shown the way - plastic surgeons need to sit up, take notice and embrace local fascio-cutaneous reconstruction as an alternative to microsurgery or risk losing a large part of our specialty.”

Associate Professor Felix Behan AM received this well-deserved award as part of the Australia Day 2024 Honours List.

The Department of Surgery congratulates Associate Professor Felix Behan AM on this well-deserved recognition and recognises the wonderful achievement by Associate Professor Felix Behan AM who has contributed so deeply to his chosen field as well as contributing to the success of our department.

Our best wishes and congratulations!

Prof. Peter Choong AO
Hugh Devine Professor of Surgery, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne
Head, University of Melbourne Department of Surgery
Associate Dean, Innovation & Enterprise, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry & Health Science