Dr Joe Dusseldorp
M.S. (Plast.), M.B., B.S. (Hons.), B.Com, F.R.A.C.S. (Plast.), PhD
About Joe Dusseldorp
Dr Joe Dusseldorp is a FRACS qualified Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon. He completed his specialist training through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and graduated with Honours from University of Sydney Medical School.
Joe specialises in a number of specific reconstructive areas, in particular autologous (own tissue) breast reconstruction, such as DIEP flap, after mastectomy. He is committed to working through shared decision-making with a patient and their whole medical team to plan treatment that meets a woman’s goal for how she wants to live her life.
In 2022 Joe collaborated with colleagues at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse to introduce breast sensation reconstruction for the first time in Australia. He is active in research into this and other techniques that aim to continuously push medical advancement and improve the options available to women.
Recognising that many women remained unaware of their breast reconstruction options after mastectomy, Joe released an education series of videos about DIEP flap breast reconstruction in 2024.
Joe has undertaken two years of international fellowship years training in innovative centres including Mass Eye and Ear, Harvard University, Boston, and John Hopkins, Baltimore in the USA. Here he focused on medical and surgical aspects of treating patients with facial nerve disorders and peripheral neuropathy, skin cancers and facial deformities, including congenital and post-traumatic conditions. He spent a year in Paris, France, learning the complete management of ear deformities, both congenital and acquired, and has co-authored a definitive text on the subject entitled “Auricular Reconstruction”.
Joe collaborates with cancer specialists to offer early advice and concurrent reconstructive treatments for patients affected by many different forms of cancer. He is a member of the Integrated Prosthetics and Reconstruction team at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and is involved in efforts to revolutionise medical treatments via tissue engineering, 3D printing and nerve reconstruction.
His commitment to providing his patients with options that are not just up-to-date, but are at the leading edge of surgical practice, is motivated by his desire to offer patients the opportunity to receive personalised treatments that enable them to achieve their life goals.
Joe has a strong research focus and works with other scientists and clinicians through his role as a Clinical Senior Lecturer at University of Sydney. He completed his own PhD in 2024.
Joe believes the key to advances in surgical management of disease will come from the integration of emerging technologies with modern medical practice. In 2021 he was elected member of the NSW State Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons where he is working to ensure new techniques and technologies can be more safely and easily advanced.
Joe is also driving the development of a new medical device to address muscle control, particularly for people with cerebral palsy. Integrating emerging technologies with modern medical practice, the team aims to take a leap forward in nerve and muscle control. Find out more.
Joe performed Australia’s first custom 3D printed ear implant procedure for a child with microtia in early 2019 and has subsequently performed this procedure with a number of Australian children, including in combination with the bone anchored hearing implant for children who also have atresia.
Inspired by History
Joe didn’t always know he wanted to be a surgeon, but when he unexpectedly unearthed his family history, he discovered a deep sense of purpose in medicine. From a young age Joe was encouraged to make a contribution and he has established a strong social conscience. His father and both grandfathers have each been recognised with Order of Australia commendations for their contributions to Medicine, Industry, Commerce, Education and to the Community. His grandmothers, mother, sisters and twin brother have also influenced and guided him to become the caring person he is today.
Joe is the grandson of G.J. (Dick) Dusseldorp, the founder of Lendlease, and a pioneer who literally “built” Australia during the post WW2 era. He takes seriously the legacy of his grandfather, who had a reputation for innovation and collaboration. The foundation set up in Dick’s name and lead by Joe’s father Tjerk, and his sister Teya, aims to improve the educational and life opportunities of children and young people throughout Australia. Joe joined the Board in 2020. In his own field of medicine, he is equally inspired by his maternal grandfather, Dr Sandy Robertson, an amazing paediatrician who performed countless blood transfusions in children with leukaemia in the days when this had to be done by hand. In fact, Joe is the 5th generation in his family to become a doctor, and he hopes to leave a similar legacy of making a real difference in people’s lives, by applying his skills to challenging surgical needs, and by encouraging innovation in surgery.
One simple question, to which he had no answer, set Joe Dusseldorp on the path to becoming a surgeon. In an emotional journey of self-discovery, he shares how three courageous children changed his life. This amazing narrative reveals how technology is changing the landscape of medicine as we know it. By telling his personal story, and with a surprisingly emotional ending, Joe also brings us one step closer to knowing ourselves. Watch now.
Joe’s hobbies include travelling with his growing young family. He also enjoys training specialists in developing nations and undertakes mission trips annually to countries such as Haiti, Ecuador and Honduras. He has travelled to Vietnam a number of times to deliver surgical education in ear reconstruction techniques to local surgeons.
