Ambika Chadha

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.

Latest

Patricia Rorison will be representing CLEFT at the BLAPRAS National Undergraduate Conference.

Barts and the London Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgical Society National Undergraduate Conference 2024: 27th January 2024
BLAPRAS National Plastic Surgery Conference X CLEFT

We are a student society in which we are running a global plastic surgery conference. We will be running a cleft lip workshop and have a cleft lip talk by a cleft surgeon. We want to raise awareness of this subspecialty and also thought it would be a greta idea to introduce a fund-raising aspect to this event.
New Year, New CLEFT Challenge!

We are VERY excited to announce our January challenge - Give It Up or Take It Up! Are you ready to kickstart 2024? This January, we challenge you to either Give It Up, giving up something like chocolate, caffeine or alcohol, or Take It Up, starting a new activity, like walking, painting or yoga. The choice is yours with an activity that is personal to you, fits in with daily routine and is challenging yet achievable.
New microscope unveiled in Iraq

Brian Sommerlad recently returned from his tenth visit to the cleft centre in Sulaimania in the Kurdish region of Iraq where he was able to attend the unveiling of the new operating microscope, donated by CLEFT.

Jenny Cropper

I am a Clinical Psychologist working in the Spires Cleft Centre, across the Oxford and Salisbury sites.
Gillian McCarthy

I represent CLAPA, the Cleft Lip and Palate Association.
Fiona Gilchrist

Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry
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)
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.
Helen Robson

Clinical Nurse Specialist
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.
Rona Slator, Chair of the Research Steering Committee

Retired, and living in the North Yorkshire countryside. Former Consultant Plastic and Cleft Surgeon at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and the West Midlands Cleft Lip and Palate Centre.
Phil Stanier, Research Scientist

I am a research scientist with a particular interest in studying the molecular and genetic basis that leads to a cleft of the lip and/or palate.
Raouf Chorbachi, Consultant Audio-Vestibular Physician

Dr Chorbachi is Consultant Audio-Vestibular Physician for the North Thames Cleft Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital and St Andrew's Centre, Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.