BIO

Sharon A. Keene, MD Dr. Sharon A. Keene, president and medical director of Physician's Hair Institute, is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in the hair transplant field. She utilized and described to her patients the hair groupings, now called follicular unit grafts, long before the term was coined. Likewise, Dr. Keene utilized both longitudinal and lateral slits, depending on the location of the recipient area, since the early 1990’s. Her refusal to perform a procedure that looked unnatural resulted in the stellar reputation she has today. She didn't just learn today's techniques, she helped to pioneer them. She continues to seek innovative ways to improve the field of hair restoration. She currently utilizes the ultra refined follicular unit technique with blades customized to fit the graft size. She also knows when to utilize double follicular unit grafts to the benefit of the patient. Dr. Keene is especially noted for her aesthetic ability in creating completely natural hairlines. Moreover, Dr. Keene is at the forefront in advances for combating hairloss early. She is the medical director of HairDx.com, a company providing the first genetic test to consumers to help assess their genetic risk for developing androgenetic alopecia. Dr. Keene is also working with HairDx to test finasteride for the treatment of hairloss in women. Dr. Keene has lectured and written on the subject of hair transplant surgery and advanced techniques in hair transplant surgery. She has published articles in the International Journal of Cosmetic Surgery, the Hair Transplant Forum, Surgery and the text book Hair Transplantation 4th Ed, 2004. Along with her colleagues at Shapiro Medical Group, Dr. Keene has been demonstrating the follicular unit technique to fellow hair transplant doctors for many years. The Bald Truth (published by pocket books, a division of Simon & Schuster) recognizes Dr. Keene to be among the top in the world. The author identifies these doctors as physicians who..."perform state of the art follicular transplantation and are recognized by their peers as leaders in the field. This is not only for their medical expertise, but for their active role in educating their fellow physicians (as well as patients) in the most recent and welcome innovations in hair transplantation surgery. These physicians do regular research, publish in medical journals, present research findings and techniques at medical conferences and are vocal advocates for continued changes in the field." Recognized for her skill, technique, and integrity, Dr. Keene has received numerous honors from fellow hair transplant doctors in recognition of her contributions to the hair restoration field, including the following: Dr. Keene is appointed to the Evidence Based Task Force of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons (ISHRS) for 2008. The goal of this committee is to promote statistically significant, evidence based research in hair restoration.
	Dr. Keene was the Program Chair for the September, 2007 International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeon's conference in Las Vegas. The program chair is responsible for inviting doctors to participate in educational presentations, approving topics covered, and general organizaton of the meeting. There are over 750 doctor members of the Internatiol Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons, so being asked to chair the meeting is an honor. Only 14 doctors were given this honor before Dr. Keene, since this was the ISHRS' 15th Annual Scientific Meeting. She was awarded a plaque in recognition of educational excellence in advancing the science and art of hair restoration.
Dr. Keene was appointed to the Continuing Medical Education Committee, and the Annual Scientific Committe of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons for 2006. She was a member of the faculty for the avanced seminar in hair restoration surgery, and co-chair for the workshops. She served as a member of the faculty for "Making Recipient Sites with the Experts", and faculty "Ergonomics," and lectured on "Rules for Creating Hairlines" and "Approach to the Recipient Area." At the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons' conference in Sydney, Australia in August, 2005 she gave 7 lectures on her techniques. She presented many of the techniques discussed in this website to her fellow surgeons. At the July, 2005 Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons' conference in Modena, Italy, Dr. Keene was awarded the Ghirlandina award for her aesthetic ability in hair restoration. Ghirlandina is a Bell Tower created by a pioneering architecture in 1389, and is considered a world heritage site by UNESCO. In 2004, at the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons' conference in Torino, Italy, Dr. Keene was awarded a plaque for "Peaks in Hair Restoration" for her participation as faculty At the 2004 International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons' conference in Vancouver, Canada, she was awarded a certificate for outstanding effort for her contribution in co-directing the Basics in Hair restoration Workshop. At the 2003 European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery conference, Dr. Keene was given a certificate for serving as a member of the world renowned faculty.
In 2003, at the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery conference in Rome, Italy, she was awarded "The Mouth of Truth Award" for ethics in Hair Restoration Surgery. The story behind The Mouth of Truth, a historical artifact in Rome, is that if you put your hand in the statue’s mouth and utter a lie, your hand will be bitten off.
In 2002, at the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery conference, she was awarded the "Michelangelo" award for her aesthetic ability in creating a natural appearance
	In 2002, at the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery in London, UK, she was awarded a certificate of appreciation for demonstrating her surgical technique to the European conference.
In 2001, at the Italian Society of Hair Restoration, she was awarded the "International Archimedes Award" for her innovative development of hair restoration surgical tools.
	She was featured as surgeon of the month in the July, 2001 issue of the Hair Transplant Forum.
A graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Dr. Keene studied general surgery for five years at the University of Arizona. She spent two years studying hair loss and surgical hair restoration techniques before establishing her own clinic. Dr. Keene is certified by the American Board of Surgery, and acts as an expert consultant to the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners in reviewing hair restoration surgery cases. She is a member of the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, and the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. Since 1995, she has participated among a team of surgeons teaching follicular unit grafting to doctors from all over the world at the International Hair Restoration Surgery conference. She is well known among patients and doctors for her integrity, honest medical advice, and surgical skill in providing the most advanced techniques available anywhere at an affordable rate. Physician’s Hair Institute Dr. Keene’s clinic, Physician’s Hair Institute, in Tucson, AZ, utilizes state of the art equipment and techniques. This includes a form of magnification that offers improvements over the standard stereoscopic microscope used by most hair restoration surgery practices in graft dissection. It involves a high-resolution digital video camera, in conjunction with a backlight, projected onto an LCD screen. Dr. Keene announced this technique at the Orlando, Florida conference in 2002, and presented the technique in 2003 at the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery conference in Rome, Italy. The technique was well received and is gradually being adapted by other clinics. It is an improvement over the stereoscopic microscope in that it allows the doctor more direct supervision, and offers improved ergonomics for the technicians while dissecting, while maintaining excellent magnification. Moreover, Dr. Keene designed a graft holder and dissection kit that keeps the grafts hydrated during placing, an important factor in graft survival. She also created a multi-recipient site scalpel that improves the efficiency of creating incisions, but keeps this critical step in the hands of the physician, not the assistants. Other doctors have followed her lead and started to use similar devices due to their recognition of the advantages these devices offer. Dr. Keene typically limits her surgery to one patient per day, utilizing the ultra refined follicular unit technique, and has a very hands on approach in the surgery room. She performs every aspect of the surgery, from donor removal, to creating the recipient sites, to placing the grafts. Each patient is given not just her staff's attention, but her personal attention troughout the surgery. You will never encounter a high pressure sales professional at Dr. Keene's office. She believes that patients should be informed and educated about their options, but never pressured. She will not recommend hair restoration for everyone, but will base her recommendations on your individual needs and circumstances. Moreover, Dr. Keene limits the overhead at her clinic in order to pass that on to you. Quality and aesthetic results are her main concern, but making this procedure affordable to those who can benefit from it is important to her as well. So marketing is kept to a minimum, and Physician's Hair Institute is a clinic focused primarily on the professional, technical, and artistic aspects of hair restoration, rather than on marketing and ambience. Dr. Keene worked with the Shapiro Medical group in MN for many years. However, the demand at her Tucson clinic, along with her educational obligations, has limited her travel time. Consequently, she currently limits her surgery to her Tucson clinic only. Dr. Keene and the other doctors in the Shapiro team still maintain a friendly give and take of ideas and friendship from their many years of collaboration.

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