Christopher
Pannucci, MD MS
Spokane Plastic Surgeon
Meet Dr. Pannucci
Dr. Pannucci is a plastic surgeon board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is also a fellowship-trained microvascular reconstructive surgeon. Dr. Pannucci’s clinical interests include aesthetic surgery of the breast and body, breast reconstruction surgery, and general reconstructive surgery. Dr. Pannucci is an accomplished surgeon educator and sought-after speaker for national and international meetings in plastic surgery and aesthetic surgery.
Dr. Pannucci is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the Washington Society of Plastic Surgeons, and is the 2025-2026 President of the Northwest Society of Plastic Surgeons. He also sits on the Editorial Board of the scientific journal Aesthetic Surgery Journal, is a former board member of the Aesthetic Society Education and Research Foundation, and locally sits on the physician credentialing committee for Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Education
Dr. Pannucci is a Midwest native and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Pannucci completed an integrated residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor, he also received a Masters degree in Health and Healthcare Research. Dr. Pannucci subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in microvascular reconstruction at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Plastic Surgery Northwest, Dr. Pannucci spent six years on faculty at the University of Utah, where he achieved the rank of Associate Professor with the Award of Tenure.
Patient Experience
Dr. Pannucci has a thoughtful, kind, and straightforward bedside manner and is proud to regularly receive “five-star” reviews from happy patients in the Inland Northwest via RealSelf, Google , and others.
While on faculty at the University of Utah for six years, Dr. Pannucci was regularly ranked in the top 1% of providers for patient satisfaction and experience through Press-Ganey scores—a metric that is derived from patient experience surveys.
National Surgeon Educator in Breast and Body Surgery
Dr. Pannucci is a sought-after national and international speaker, regularly speaking on breast and body aesthetic surgery and breast reconstruction surgery, as well as risks for blood clots in plastic surgery patients. Since 2006, Dr. Pannucci has given over 130 national and international lectures at plastic surgery and general surgery meetings. He has given invited Grand Rounds at dozens of Universities, has taught educational courses at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons meeting most years since 2010, and has been a keynote lecturer at the Southeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons Annual Meeting and the Alberta Society of Plastic Surgeons Annual Meeting. Most recently, he was invited as Faculty for the prestigious 2026 Atlanta Breast Surgery Symposium.
Surgical Mythbusting
Dr. Pannucci has an extensive background in clinical trials and clinically oriented research, and has leveraged these skills for “Surgical Mythbusting”. Using a paradigm similar to the popular television show “Mythbusters”, Dr. Pannucci has identified intriguing questions for patients and surgeons alike—questions that are practical in nature, impact patient’s day-to-day care, and have no clear answer–and examined them using a rigorous framework. He has partnered with biomedical engineer Adam Cyr PhD and ballistics expert Martin Szegedi, PhD to show that breast implants can protect patients against penetrating trauma. He recently published a seminal manuscript showing that breast implants can decrease force experienced by the chest wall in low speed car accidents, plausibly protecting women against rib fractures and other chest trauma.
“…top 1% of providers for patient satisfaction and experience…”
– Press-Ganey Scores
Personal Life
Dr. Pannucci and his wife, Mandy, met in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2008-he was in residency and she was working for the University of Michigan. Mandy grew up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and her family has been in the Inland Northwest for generations. While they loved Ann Arbor, Philadelphia, and Salt Lake City, the opportunity to own a plastic surgery practice in Spokane was a dream come true.
Dr. Pannucci and Mandy have two boys-Jack and Ben-who you’ll probably run into at a South Hill sporting event, the Spokane Club (Jack is a USA Swimming competitive swimmer), or cheering on their favorite Gonzaga basketball team.
Dr. Pannucci claims to be a reasonable public speaker, an amateur boat driver, and an above average dancer. Depending on the season, you’ll find him fishing on the Spokane River, skiing at Schweitzer, or boating on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Before & Afters
Explore our gallery of transformative results from real patients. See how our board-certified surgeons have helped individuals enhance their appearance and restore confidence through personalized procedures.
National Leader in Patient Safety
Dr. Pannucci is a nationally recognized advocate for patient safety, particularly in the realm of venous thromboembolism (VTE). VTE encompasses deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolus, both of which are life or limb-threatening complications of surgical procedures. Dr. Pannucci’s research over the past fifteen years has worked to identify the optimal paradigm to identify and decrease VTE risk for surgical patients. Dr. Pannucci’s research has been funded by national foundations as well as the federal government. He has previously been the Principal Investigator on 11 clinical trials which examined the optimization of post-operative anti-coagulant drugs in surgical patients to minimize risks of VTE and microvascular thrombosis after free flap surgery. Dr. Pannucci has published over 100 manuscripts, the majority of which examine risk factors and prevention of venous thromboembolism in surgical patients, in the peer-reviewed medical literature. He recently published the second-largest randomized controlled trial ever conducted in the field of plastic surgery.
Click here to view all of Dr. Pannucci’s peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Pannucci is regularly an invited lecturer at national and international academic meetings. Dr. Pannucci is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on venous thromboembolism in plastic surgery patients. He regularly helps to establish specialty-specific guidelines for VTE prevention–including participation in expert consensus panels through the American Heart Association and the American Association of Plastic Surgeons.
Dr. Pannucci’s research efforts have made a notable and important impact on patient safety for plastic surgery patients—an impact that has been recognized by his peers. Dr. Pannucci and his research collaborators have won multiple awards for their research. Most notably, they were recognized with the 2012 James Barrett Brown Award from the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. This annual award is given to the best paper in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery for the previous calendar year — view the article here. More recently, Dr. Pannucci was awarded the Best Research Paper published in 2019 by the Aesthetic Surgery Journal — the #1 ranked aesthetic surgery journal in the world—view the article here.
Testimonials
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