Rachel Hooper, MD

Rachel C. Hooper, MD, serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery in the Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. She serves as Assistant Program Director for the Hand Surgery Fellowship.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. Dr. Hooper completed medical school at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden New Jersey in 2009. Following this, Dr. Hooper went on to General Surgery Residency at Columbia University and completed her residency and general surgery board certification in 2016. She then spent three additional years of training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, followed by an additional year of hand surgery at the University of Michigan, completing her training in 2020. In 2020, she joined the plastic surgery faculty at Henry Ford and transitioned to her current role on the plastic surgery faculty at the University of Michigan in 2022.

Dr. Hooper is a board-certified, fully trained plastic surgeon with subspeciality in Hand surgery. Her clinical focus involves all aspects of acute and chronic upper extremity pathology including Nerve Compression, Tendinopathies, Finger/Wrist Arthritis Surgery, Finger contracture/Dupuytrens, Hand Tumors, Peripheral Nerve Injuries, Nerve Transfers and Hand Trauma (tendon injuries, fractures, soft tissue loss, and amputation)

She is a big proponent of medical student, resident and fellow education and is actively involved in upper extremity cadaver simulation activities. She dedicates time for clinical outreach and participates in a program for Detroit high school students interested in careers in medicine and science.

Dr. Hooper’s current research interest include:
1) examining the impact of race and other health disparities on decisions for surgical treatment of hand conditions
2) disparities in training and custom-fitting of prosthetics for patients with major upper and lower extremity amputations
3) workforce diversity in plastic surgery training programs