David Sainsbury I am delighted to be a Trustee of CLEFT and am very enthusiastic at the prospect of helping teams around the world to provide the best possible care for individuals with a cleft. Expand I am a Consultant Cleft and Plastic Surgeon in Newcastle upon Tyne – where I live with my wife and three children. I trained in plastic surgery in North-East England and completed Advanced Training in Cleft Lip and Palate (Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, Edinburgh) and the Paediatric Plastic Surgery Fellowship (Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto). I am a founder member of the Cleft Multidisciplinary Collaborative which produces multicentre, cleft related research across the UK and beyond. I am an Honorary Tutor at the Wound Healing Research Unit, Cardiff University.
Paul Whittaker I began working with CLEFT as a filmmaker and photographer in 2016, initially to highlight the progress of the multi-disciplinary cleft centre CLEFT has helped create in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Expand Since then, I have continued to document CLEFT’s work in Bangladesh, Egypt and Kurdistan through video and photography. Additionally, my involvement with CLEFT has evolved over the last 5 years to include fundraising, attending regular trustee’s meetings, and online meetings with the team of clinicians in Bangladesh. Having spent many weeks with patients and their parents, filming in local villages, hospitals and workshops alongside the local medical teams, I have developed a good understanding of some of the complex issues facing children born with clefts, especially in places where multi-disciplinary cleft care may be difficult to access. I believe CLEFT’s focus on supporting and facilitating local medical teams to improve cleft care is highly important. These local teams undertake the vital work to ensure that long-term and sustainable cleft care is available to those who need it. I am honoured to be a part of supporting these efforts. In addition to my involvement with CLEFT, I have worked extensively supporting refugees in Greece and vulnerable people in the UK. I have a BA in Film from Falmouth University and an MA in Migration and Diaspora Studies from SOAS University of London. I currently work in adult social services at Bristol City Council.
Kate Le Marechal Dr Kate le Maréchal is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who has worked as the Clinical Psychology Lead within the Evelina London Cleft Service since 2009. Expand Kate graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1996 with a first degree in Psychology (BA Hons) and obtained her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) in 2001 at University College London. On completing her clinical training, Kate began her Clinical Psychology career in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) before moving to National and Specialist CAMHS (Autism and Related Disorders). She also worked within an Adolescent Forensic Mental Health team at the Maudsley Hospital and was the Lead Clinical Psychologist for the Tuberous Sclerosis 2000 research study. Within the Evelina London Cleft Service, Kate is responsible for overseeing the psychological input for patients and families who require support across the lifespan. This includes providing interventions to help individuals cope with issues around identify and difference, self-confidence and self-esteem and dealing with bullying and teasing. Kate has always had a wider role within UK cleft care and has been the Clinical Psychology representative on the Cleft Development Group (CDG), the Cleft Clinical Reference Group (CRG) and within the UK Clinical Psychology Clinical Excellence Network (CEN). Kate was President of the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 2014/2015 and hosted the National Conference in London in April 2015. She contributes to national research projects and has presented at a range of national and international conferences. Kate enjoys providing teaching and training to a range of audiences including medical and dental registrars and other health professionals as well as with Clinical Psychologists both pre and post qualification.
David Orr, Consultant Plastic Surgeon David Orr has been a Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Our Lady's Children's Hospital and St James's Hospital, Dublin since 1998. Expand David has a long standing interest in developing surgical services in resource-poor environments and, since 2006, has been involved in a collaboration with Jimma University Hospital in Ethiopia and Operation Smile to develop a plastic surgery unit and a cleft treatment programme.
Triona Sweeney Dr Triona Sweeney (BA, MSc, PhD) is a Cleft Specialist Speech & Language Therapist. She is a Founder and co-Director with Dr Debbie Sell of Speech at Home, an online therapy resource centre which aims to empower parents of children with cleft palate to deliver speech therapy at home under the supervision of a speech and language therapist. Expand Triona previously worked at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, Dublin until 2013, in different positions including Manager and Clinical Specialist in Cleft Palate and was a part-time lecturer and adjunct professor at the University of Limerick. Research interests include the perceptual and instrumental assessment of and parent led intervention for speech problems associated cleft palate and structurally related anomalies. Triona along with Drs Debbie Sell and Anne Harding Bell, developed the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech-Augmented, which is used for mandatory audit in the UK and Ireland. She has several publications on cleft palate speech assessment and intervention. Since 2007, Triona has volunteered with Operation Smile Ireland and in 2009 became involved with Transforming Faces, focusing on the development of speech and language therapy services in Ethiopia. More recently she supported the development of the Ethiopian speech therapy training course at Addis Ababa University.
Neil Brierley I am currently working as a national TIG fellow in Cleft Lip and Palate surgery in the Northern and Yorkshire Cleft Lip & Palate service. I live in Leeds with my son. Expand Prior to my current role I completed an advanced Cleft Lip and Palate fellowship in Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge, and my higher Plastic Surgery training within the Yorkshire and Northern deaneries. I have been an international Regan Fellow with Operation Smile and visited a cleft hospital in Gujrat, Pakistan, with the Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal, based in Kingston upon Hull. I have a passionate interest in equitable healthcare across the globe and hope my involvement in the International Steering Committee of CLEFT can help achieve this.
Khurram Khan, Consultant Cleft Lip & Palate and Plastic Surgeon Hello! I am a Consultant Cleft Lip & Palate and Plastic Surgeon working at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Expand I'm really honoured to be a part of CLEFT. I have always been very passionate about providing cleft care in resource poor settings and over the last few years have operated with different teams in Vietnam, India, Guatemala and Uganda.
Patricia Rorison I am a Consultant in Cleft Lip & Palate and Plastic Surgery. Expand I graduated from medical school in Glasgow and did my early surgical training in the West of Scotland. My training led me to work in Manchester and Newcastle upon Tyne, including a laboratory based degree investigating the factors involved in human scar formation. I completed my specialist training in Cleft Surgery in London. My first Consultant post was for 10 yrs in the West Midlands Cleft Service in Birmingham, before moving to work in the North Thames Cleft Service in Gt Ormond St and Chelmsford in 2018.
Fiona Gilchrist Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry Expand I am a paediatric dentist in Sheffield and the Lead Paediatric Dentist for the Trent Regional Cleft Network. I have worked with the cleft team in Sheffield since 2011, having previously worked with cleft teams in Edinburgh and Melbourne. My main research interests are in developing and using patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). I am currently involved in projects evaluating the routine use of these in children with cleft lip and palate and with other diagnoses. Outside of work I enjoy swimming, both indoors and outdoors!
Stephanie van Eeden Stephanie van Eeden, Lead Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), Regional Cleft Lip and Palate Service and NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellow (2018-2023) Expand I have worked with the Newcastle cleft lip and palate team for 17 years and have led the speech and language service since 2009. I am currently undertaking a PhD investigating language and listening skills in children with cleft lip and palate. I am Chair of the Early Career Researchers Group in Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies. My research interests also include Robin Sequence, outcome measures and the relationship between speech and language skills. I have spent some time in India working with cleft charities and delivering assessment and therapy through interpreters and local SLTs. When away from work I enjoy walking my dogs, running (slowly!) and watching football!
Yvonne Wren I am Associate Professor of Speech and Communication at the University of Bristol and also Chief Investigator of the Cleft Collective, a national cohort study which is investigating the causes, treatments and outcomes for people born with cleft lip and/or palate. Expand We are recruiting from all 16 regional cleft sites in the UK and have over 9000 participants. We are collecting biological samples for genotyping, parent questionnaires for information on children’s development and both child and parent well-being, clinical data direct from the 16 sites as well as linking to education and health data. The data collected are available for the international research community to access and use to address questions which will impact on clinical care and outcomes.
Helen Robson Clinical Nurse Specialist Expand My name is Helen Robson. I have been a clinical nurse specialist within Cleft Lip and Palate for 15 years. I became involved with cleft at the establishment of the centralisation of specialist care. I joined a network and was pivotal in developing a nursing service at outreach centres within the network. I very much value multidisciplinary working and have enjoyed establishing a nursing service supporting early feeding support. I have maintained a community focused model enabling nurses to problem solve and practice autonomy. My research interests include the management of Robin babies and have been a participant in the international research consensus group. I also have an interest in sleep obstruction and am a PI in a research study called SLUMBRS. I am a non-medical prescriber. Developing research within cleft and especially within nursing is invaluable as well as education. I am involved in a teaching programme in Tajikistan and have also supported the European cleft nursing programme. I am really excited about being part of CLEFT and offering a positive contribution.
Sophie Butterworth, Junior Cleft Fellow I qualified as a doctor in 2007 and have been working part-time with the cleft lip and palate team in Newcastle since 2009, with a few breaks for my three children. Expand I am a member of the cleft early career research group and have worked with the cleft multidisciplinary collaborative on several projects. I am really interested in research, and my goal at the moment is to try and investigate why speech outcomes differ in patients born with a cleft palate. I hope to be part of larger, international studies in the future as I enjoy working with others and if we can get larger numbers of patients involved in studies then we can hopefully find out more answers. I am really excited to be part of CLEFT and look forward to hearing about all the new research ideas.
Ambika Chadha I am a doubly qualified specialist in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery who has had a lifelong interest in all aspects of cleft. Expand I am honoured to be the nominated 2022 Training Interface Group (TIG) fellow in Cleft Lip & Palate and am based in the Cleft.Net.East service in Addenbrookes hospital, Cambridge. My passion for cleft has always spanned both clinical and research domains. I am currently writing up my PhD in the applications of 3D surface imaging in cleft – work that has been supported by both Surgical and Dental Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) Research Fellowships. I was also awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Travel fellowship to spend several months in the 3D Facial Research Imaging Group based in Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I am especially interested in the use of 3D and 4D imaging to deep phenotype cleft lip and the application of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (X-AI) to enhance cleft care. Additionally, I believe that Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are poised to play an important role in disseminating clinical knowledge in cleft globally. I wholly support the CLEFT charity’s research ethos and applaud the important role it plays in supporting high quality research in cleft, in collaboration with other national organisations.
Mahaveer Sangha 2021-22 Founder and Chair of the Student Section, I am currently a trainee doctor and a member of the CLEFT Fundraising Committee. Expand My name is Mahaveer Sangha, I am a trainee doctor having recently graduated from University College London. I originally joined CLEFT in 2017/18 as a Student Ambassador. I think the work CLEFT does is amazing. Without adequate and sustainable treatment, children with cleft lips/palates from less privileged backgrounds often face a life of stigma, social exclusion, and health issues. I joined CLEFT to help the charity, in any small way I could, to end this. I hope that one day no child has to suffer due to a lack of access to sustainable cleft lip/palate care and believe that by working together and raising awareness about this issue, that day will soon come.
Matt Ristau I'm equally excited and interested in both facets of the work CLEFT does across both research and international work. Expand As a parent, learning more about cleft lip and palates, causes, treatments, etc. will always be interesting and necessary to ensure our son is getting the best care. As someone fortunate enough to have easy access to doctors like Mr. Sommerlad, I'm also very excited about the work that CLEFT is doing to expand that access to areas of the world that don't have that same access.
Ghada-al-Bahar I am a Kuwaiti mother of three girls based between London and Kuwait. Expand Having been born with a cleft lip, I am acutely aware of how lucky I was to have had access to reconstructive surgery as a baby over 50 years ago. I have been very impressed with CLEFT's work overseas, training local doctors and raising funds for cleft surgical units, thus the interest in supporting CLEFT through fundraising.
Ana Ghanizadegan ENT Resident, Prague Expand I am a resident in ENT, Head and Neck Surgery with a strong personal and professional connection to cleft care. As a medical student, I founded and led the first CLEFT charity branch in the Czech Republic, organizing fundraising events and building a sustainable student team. Through my clinical work, I regularly care for patients with cleft conditions and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams. Outside of medicine, I enjoy yoga, reading, and spending time in nature, which helps me maintain balance alongside my clinical and charitable commitments.
Clara Palermo I am the mother of two children, my son was born with cleft lip and palate and my daughter was born with cleft lip and palate. Expand Both my children were surgically operated by Mr. Sommerlad. The great results of the surgical operations make them more serene. I understand how for every parents is really important to know that they have put their children in so good and care hands. I believe that every child needs to be cared by professional well skilled and highly specialized personnel to address functional and psychological issues in the best way. Due to my personal life experience, I strongly believe in CLEFT mission and I choose to get committed by making it better known in Italy.
Nora Vasony My daughter, Lili was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate in 2012. Expand Our personal journey made me realise what difference research makes when it comes to different treatments of this condition and I am committed to support the scientific endeavour of learning and finding best practices for treatment. I also know how privileged are those who have access to the best experts and treatment and I would like to support the charity in its work to help less privileged children with cleft lip and palate. By being an International Ambassador of CLEFT I would like to raise awareness of the charity's research and international activity, by supplying relevant information to the Hungarian community.
Major A N M Wasiul Anwar “Fortunate to be a member of the Noble Team and blessed by them” – Major Wasi Expand Major A N M Wasiul Anwar, Bangladesh Army is involved with CLEFT since 2012. Introduced being the father of a Cleft Lips and palate child and operated by Dr Sommerlad in UK. He closely liaises the doctors at the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, Bangladesh. He presently serving in MONUSCO, United Nations and working on collaboration between United Nations and CLEFT.
Gillian McCarthy I represent CLAPA, the Cleft Lip and Palate Association. Expand I am a qualified Speech and Language Therapist and following a career break to start a family I started working at CLAPA in 2014. I am currently the External Engagement Coordinator where I have responsibility for ensuring the Patient Voice is heard at various levels of cleft care and cleft.