Dr. Jason Ko is a Professor of Plastic Surgery with an additional appointment in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. Dr. Ko is the Vice Chair of Clinical Operations for the Department of Surgery, and he is the Program Director for the Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency at Northwestern. He specializes in upper and lower extremity reconstruction, brachial plexus and peripheral nerve surgery, hand and upper extremity surgery, and advanced amputee care. He attended Duke University School of Medicine, where he was first introduced to the concept of Orthoplastic Surgery from his mentor, Dr. L. Scott Levin. Dr. Ko then completed his plastic surgery training at Northwestern University under the tutelage of Dr. Gregory Dumanian, the inventor of Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR), and as a resident, Dr. Ko played an integral role in the early stages of TMR and understanding the effects of TMR on neuroma and phantom limb pain. Dr. Ko then went on to complete a hand and microvascular surgery fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, after which he joined the faculty at the University of Washington and worked primarily at Harborview Medical Center, the main trauma center for 5 states in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. While at the University of Washington, Dr. Ko performed a high volume of brachial plexus and peripheral nerve reconstructive surgeries, upper and lower extremity reconstructions, and TMR surgery for both prosthetic control and for the treatment of neuroma pain and phantom limb pain.

Dr. Ko was recruited back to Northwestern University in 2016, and he received his MBA in 2019 from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. He is the Associate Editor for Research of the Orthoplastic Surgery journal and former Associate Editor of the Journal of Hand Surgery American edition. He was recently President of the Illinois Society of Plastic Surgeons in 2022. In terms of research, Dr. Ko’s interests are focused on nerve regeneration, outcomes after brachial plexus reconstruction, osseointegration, and advanced bionic prostheses. He was the Co-PI of a randomized clinical trial funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) that evaluated the use of TMR as a treatment for neuroma pain and phantom limb pain in upper and lower extremity amputees. Dr. Ko and his collaborators at Northwestern University and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab have received numerous research grants funded by the DoD and National Institutes of Health. From a clinical standpoint, Dr. Ko is a recognized authority in brachial plexus and peripheral nerve surgery, vascularized bone, extremity reconstruction, and amputee care/TMR.