Dr. Matthew (Max) Reiss currently serves as the Medical Director of the Torrance Memorial Burn Center. Dr. Reiss is a Plastic Surgeon who trained at the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center and Regional Burn Center not only in Reconstructive Surgery, but also is further trained as a Burn Surgeon. After completing his Burn rotations as a trainee, Dr. Reiss fell in love with the complexity of burn care of the acutely injured burn patient and the reconstructive efforts in order to give the burn patient the best outcome possible. Dr. Reiss has been active in developing an Educational Outreach Program to the burn care community in the South Bay, as well as developing burn survivor support programs and helping to bring the SOAR program to our burn unit (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery). The team approach to burn care, which involves not only multiple specialties, but also the families of patients, and patients themselves, make burn care a particularly fulfilling specialty. Dr. Reiss is a member of the American Burn Association and attends their yearly Burn Conferences in the Spring.
Dr. Reiss attended the University of California at Berkeley where he majored in History with a focus in Medical History. He then attended New York Medical College where he received his MD/MPH.
A dedicated family man, Dr. Reiss is the father of three. He loves waking them up before school to play ping pong, or walk the dog. His other interests include tennis, good food, and travel. He has lived in the U.S., Canada, and England, but has settled in Southern California where his wife’s very large family is based. Growing up in Montreal Canada, Dr. Reiss speaks fluent French. Living in Southern California he also has learned Spanish, and at home speaks only in Spanish with his children.
Dr. Reiss has also completed research and is published in the area of Wounds. After completing his Burn Fellowship he also became interested in Advanced Wound Healing. He spent several years in the lab doing research in healing and has presented and is published in this area as well, winning a Young Investigator Award from the Wound Healing Society in 2006. Nevertheless his true love is taking care of patients and after completing his training was very excited to join the Torrance Memorial Burn Team.
