Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez delivers a speech at a press conference at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York on November 16, 2015 to announce the successful completion of the most extensive face transplant to date. Dr. Rodriguez led the surgery following a year of preparation on 41-year-old Patrick Hardison(on screen), a first responder horribly disfigured in 2001. More than 100 doctors, nurses, technical and support staff took part in the 26-hour operation, conducted in mid-August at the NYU Langone Medical Center, the center announced. Hardison, from Senatobia, Mississippi who suffered extensive facial burns as a volunteer firefighter, just days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Hardison was severely disfigured when the roof of a burning home collapsed on top of him during a rescue search, losing his eyelids, ears, lips, most of his nose, hair and eyebrows.(Photo/Agencies)
