Dr. Bryan N. Rolfes

Dr. Rolfes grew up in St. Paul, MN and was the oldest of five children. He was always interested in science and engineering. Through their childhood, he and his siblings often spent their free time building many “projects” in the family garage. Despite the many missing tools and occasional need for some stitches, their parents always encouraged hands-on construction and experimentation. Every one of his siblings is now in some field of science or engineering.

During his studies at The Chicago Medical School, Dr. Rolfes searched for ways to combine his passions for medicine and engineering. He applied for and was selected to join the Medical Device Center’s Innovation Fellows program at the University of Minnesota. There he spent a year working with a team of engineers to develop solutions to unmet medical needs. After that, he did an intensive 5 year surgical residency in Head and Neck Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. At that point, he could have started to practice as a surgeon, but he wanted to further specialize his skills. He went on to a Facial Plastic Reconstructive Surgery fellowship at Boston University, the only training program in the country focused on facial feminization surgery.

After a decade of medical training Dr. Rolfes looked to return to Minnesota, where he and his wife are both from.  His original intent was to join an academic center, but found that it would be challenging to create the type of center he had envisioned within one of these large institutions.  He ended up opening his own private practice to be able to focus on the procedures, research, and development that he wanted to perform.  After several years he merged his practice with Dr. Ness, and shortly thereafter they were joined by Dr. Chaudhry.  The three now work together as Pinnacle Cosmetic.

Despite a busy surgical practice Dr. Rolfes has continued to innovate, and has created several new tools and procedures. He has been awarded 5 patents for novel medical devices. He is triple board certified and was the recipient of the William K. Miles, MD Award for achieving the highest score in the nation on the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery exam. He has been nationally recognized as a Top Doctor and has been featured numerous times in Delta Sky Magazine. Dr. Rolfes specializes in gender-confirming surgery for transgender patients, and he is a national leader in Facial Feminization Surgery.  He is also a strong advocate for the advancement of gender affirming policies within institutions, insurance coverage, and state and federal legislative bodies.

When not in the clinic or operating room Dr. Rolfes likes to spend as much time as he can in the great outdoors with his wife, Chela, and their two kids. They love to bike, fish, and kayak in the summer, and the winters are filled with XC skiing, fort building, and snowball fights.