Dr. Kris Shewmake was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Hendrix College in Conway and a master’s degree in natural science from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He received his medical degree from UAMS, where he also completed a residency in general surgery. He was president of his class and elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society (top 10% of the class). His eight years of surgical training after medical school included a General Surgery residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Medical Center and a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery residency in Dallas at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Shewmake then spent an extra year at UCLA working with children and adults affected by facial birth deformities. Upon completion of his fellowship in 1992, Dr. Shewmake returned to his native state of Arkansas as Chief of Plastic Surgery at UAMS and Arkansas Children‘s Hospital. In 1996 he left UAMS and entered private practice. In 1999 and in 2009 he was named best plastic surgeon in Arkansas by his colleagues. In 2017 he rejoined UAMS as the director of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and also serves as an associate professor there. He is married with three daughters.