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Harold Gillies, plastic surgeon, and Donald Morton, surgical oncologist, were iconic pioneers in their respective fields. Both men made their mark by identifying important practical problems, then finding innovative ways of solving them. Gillies grappled with the challenge of restoring form and function to British military personnel injured in World War I, and set up a dedicated facility where this work could be performed. He introduced many new reconstructive techniques that became the foundation of the modern specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery, which he established and nurtured. Morton, in the United States, applied his problem-solving abilities to the long-debated question of how best to manage regional lymph nodes in patients with melanoma. He developed the innovative technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy, and initiated large-scale international clinical trials to establish its validity and clinical …