Meet Dr. Schmelzer

Dr. Rodney Schmelzer is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon specializing in craniofacial surgery and fellowship trained by Dr. Jeffrey Fearon. He is originally a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He completed his undergraduate work at Tulane University with a bachelors degree in English. He then obtained his M.D. degree at Case Western Reserve University.

After medical school, he completed his General/Plastic Surgery residency at Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis. In between his general surgery and plastic surgery residency, he spent two years as a Research Fellow at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. There he focused his research efforts studying craniofacial anomalies under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Marsh. He continued with additional training in Dallas, under the mentorship of Dr. Jeffrey Fearon, completing a fellowship in Craniofacial Surgery at Medical City Hospital (2004-05). From 2005-2009, he joined Dr. Louis Morales Jr., MD at Plastic Surgery Associates, a high volume cleft and craniofacial practice, centered at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He relocated to the Phoenix Area in 2009-2011 to help build a craniofacial program at Cardon Children’s Medical Center. In 2012, Dr. Schmelzer returned to Salt Lake City to partner with Dr. Louis Morales and The Craniofacial Foundation of Utah.

Dr. Schmelzer is Board Certified in Plastic Surgery. He has received many awards including: Washington University School of Medicine Resident of the Year and the Junior Investigator Research Grant from The Cleft Palate Foundation in 2001. He has given numerous presentations both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Schmelzer is a member of many accredited organizations including: American Medical Association, American Society of Craniofacial Surgeons, The Plastic Surgery Research Council, American Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Association, American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Utah Society of Plastic Surgeons and The American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Schmelzer performs a broad range of pediatric plastic and craniofacial surgery including: cleft lip and palate, craniosynostosis, syndromes (Crouzon, Apert, Treacher-Collins and Pfeiffer), vascular malformations (hemangiomas, lymphangiomas, etc), microtia, facial nerve injury, skull and facial tumors (fibrous dyplasia), skull and facial trauma, and basic pediatric plastic surgery.

He is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care with the focus on the child first and always. It is his goal to educate parents and families about the child’s diagnosis and ensure that all your questions are addressed.