Dr Durand graduated from McGill University Medical school in 1986, and after completing a surgical internship was awarded a license to practice medicine in 1987.

He continued to train in a formal general surgery training program until 1990, when he was admitted as one of only two accepted candidates, out of a field of hundreds, to train within the context of an internationally and board recognized training program to become a plastic surgeon.

As if the demands of a surgical residency training program were not enough, Dr Durand also chose to study and complete a Master’s Degree in experimental surgery at McGill University concomitantly with his surgical training. During this time, he published peer reviewed papers and was invited to speak at numerous surgical meetings including those of the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Plastic Surgery, The plastic surgery research council, and the Quebec society of plastic surgeons, to name a few.