As an undergraduate, Dr. Hughes attended Colgate University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, with the Highest Honors in Neuroscience, and was elected to join Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, Beta Beta Beta, and Psi Chi honor societies. Dr. Hughes earned his medical degree from Weill-Cornell Medical Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, New York, where he was awarded the Cornell Excellence in Surgery Award. Dr. Hughes remained at Cornell Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital after medical school, where he completed a five-year general surgery residency as well as a two year postdoctoral research fellowship.
Dr. Hughes is a double board-certified surgeon in both general surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. He received his plastics and reconstructive surgery training at Duke University, where he trained alongside the country’s leading plastics and reconstructive surgeons. During his training at Duke, Dr. Hughes was a Regan fellow with Operation Smile, traveling to India to perform cleft lip and palate repairs.
Dr. Hughes has been awarded numerous research grants, including a MERCK research fellowship for neurology research, an NIH R25 research fellowship for tobacco-related cancer research, and a Duke University GME grant for medical education research. He has presented his numerous years of research at national and international conferences, and to date has 25 peer-reviewed publications, including recent publications in the field’s prestigious Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Annals of Plastic Surgery journals.
Outside of the hospital, Dr. Hughes lives in Durham with his wife and two children. He is an avid triathlete, competing in triathlons of all distances, most notably, finishing in the top 10% of two Iron Man triathlons, and successfully completing the daunting Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco Bay. Dr. Hughes also enjoys running, completing the New York City Marathon in 2010.