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.
Harriet Priest Student’s Section Speech & Language Deputy & Social Media Officer and speech and language therapy student, Birmingham City University Expand Hello, I'm Harriet, I'm a Modern Languages graduate, and I am now in my final year of Speech and Language Therapy at Birmingham City. I am proud to have worked with CLEFT in several roles since 2021: Student Ambassador, Student Deputy Chair for SLT, and now Student Head of Communications and Support. In my spare time, I enjoy knitting, yoga, and running. Read more about Harriet here.
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.
Ashley Davies Lead Ambassador and speech and language therapy student, Birmingham City University Expand Hello, my name is Ashley and I am a second year Speech and Language Therapy Student at BCU. I look forward to helping lead the BCU CLEFT student team this year and support CLEFT as much as we can!
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.
Julie Davies Senior Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Expand My name is Julie and I have been a speech and language therapist with the cleft team in Manchester since 1997. During this time, I have enjoyed working with a very committed team of cleft professionals, been involved in research, been Chair of the Speech and Language Therapy Clinical Excellence Network and Treasurer of the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland. I am a keen walker and love the outdoors and so joined CLEFT to support the charities fundraising in any way I can and hopefully through my contacts, friends and family will be able to encourage more people to join us.
Tanzil Rujeedawa Lead Student Ambassador and medical student, University of Cambridge Expand I am a 5th year medical student with a strong interest in surgery. I am very passionate about the work done by CLEFT which is why I applied to be Lead. I am also interested in research.
Matthew Gwyther Matthew was born in the 60s and had his cleft repaired at Great Ormond Street, as did his oldest son born in the mid 90s. Expand Matthew edited Management Today for 17 years and during that time won the coveted BSME Business Magazine Editor of the year on a record five occasions. During his career as a freelance he has written for the Sunday Times - Business pages plus magazine, The Times, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Observer, GQ and was a contributing editor to Business magazine. He was PPA Business Feature Writer of the Year in 2001. He has also worked on two drama serials one for Channel 4 and one for the BBC. Before becoming a journalist he had a brief and inauspicious spell as a civil servant working at the Medical Research Council in its London Secretariat. He is the longest standing judge of the Veuve Cliquot Businesswoman of the Year award . Matthew is now a partner at Jericho Chambers and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s In Business programme. He is an accomplished public speaker, conference host and facilitator. Matthew is also the co-author of Exposure published by Penguin in London and New York in the Autumn of 2012. It is the story of whistleblower Michael Woodford, the “Southend samurai” who left school at 16 and worked his way up to the top post of the Japanese industrial conglomerate Olympus, only to discover that his board were involved in a two billion dollar fraud.
Thiviya Sivakanthan Student Representative and medical student, University of Cambridge Expand Hi I’m Thiviya, a fifth year medical student at Cambridge University. I wanted to support CLEFT as I am interested in a career in surgery and would love to be part of an organisation aiming to achieve equity in global surgery. I also love to fundraise and find planning and taking part in events fun. In my spare time I like to run, do powerlifting, read and spend time with friends.
Joshua Kennedy Academic Dental Foundation Trainee at the Newcastle University School of Dental Sciences Expand I am an academic dental foundation trainee that has recently graduated from Queen's University Belfast. My interest in cleft lip and palate began during my university years, leading me to become an ambassador for cleft awareness. Last September, I ran the Berlin Marathon for CLEFT and raised £1600. I am delighted to be involved in the Trainee section this year. I am enthusiastic about contributing to its growth and the charity's mission.
Chloé Rolland Consultant Orthodontist Expand Consultant in Orthodontics with a specialist interest in Cleft, currently working with the Cleft.NET.East team (Cambridge University Hospitals). I became interested in clefts at university, when learning about embryological development. My professional interests lie in teaching and research to improve outcomes for children and adults born with clefts. I am excited to be involved with the Cleft UK International steering committee since its focus is on ensuring that cleft care is undertaken sustainably and to a high standard by supporting local teams internationally.
Will Raby-Smith I’m currently working as a junior doctor completing my foundation programme at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. Expand I aim to train in maxillofacial surgery and look forward to undertaking my dental studies at King's College London in August 2023. I first developed an interest in cleft surgery at medical school and was immediately drawn to the profound functional, aesthetic, psychological and social impacts of such surgery. After reading about CLEFT’s work in the UK and overseas, I contacted the trustees to see how I could get involved. Alongside Shonnelly Novintan and Yul Khan-Pascual, we created the Trainee Section to provide a community where junior trainees can collaborate on projects to further CLEFT’s charitable aims.
Shonnelly Novintan I’m looking forward to taking on this exciting journey with Will to form and shape the CLEFT Trainee Section. Expand I am a junior doctor who graduated from Imperial College London in 2021 and am undertaking my plastics training in Chelmsford. My interest in cleft lip and palate began after my elective at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where I first saw the meticulous nature of cleft surgery. After getting involved with CLEFT, I was enlightened to the global humanitarian impact and this has spurred my passion to develop the Trainee Section alongside Will.
James Moore I am Core Surgical trainee working in Swansea Bay University Health Board. Expand I have explored a broad range of interests while in medical school, but have focused on pursuing a career in Plastic surgery since the end of my undergraduate medical education at Cardiff University. After foundation training in the South Thames deanery, I returned to Wales for plastics themed Core Surgical Training. I am taking up a plastics registrar job in Perth WA in September 2023. Long term, I have aspirations to work as a cleft surgeon in UK. Outside work, I am a keen musician, jazz pianist and runner.
Bhavika Khera I am a Plastic Surgery registrar training in the East Midlands deanery. I am passionate about cleft surgery, global health and education. Expand I strongly believe in CLEFT’s mission of improving cleft care in the UK and globally in a permanent and sustainable way. I have recently spent time at the Spires Cleft Unit in Oxford, which has furthered my desire to purse cleft surgery as a career. Throughout my training, I have led and delivered international teaching programmes and continued to peruse my passion for medical education during my academic foundation training. I am excited to be working with the CLEFT team to provide educational programmes to help advance cleft care both nationally and internationally.
Siobhan McMahon I am currently the Lead Speech and Language Therapist with the cleft team based at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool. Expand I have had experience working with cleft teams in a number of low/middle income countries including Nepal, India and Vietnam.
Why do we need research into clefts? Research enables the discovery of new, better and kinder treatments for clefts. Expand It also enables health professionals and scientists to determine which treatments and operations give the best results, and which groups of patients are most likely to benefit. Research paves the way for understanding more about why clefts happen, why they sometimes run in families and if anything could be done to reduce the likelihood of a cleft occurring in the future. Without research, our understanding of clefts and their treatment would not change. It is therefore vital to support research so that cleft care continues to improve for the next generation of patients
Jenny Cropper I am a Clinical Psychologist working in the Spires Cleft Centre, across the Oxford and Salisbury sites. Expand I joined the team in 2020 and am the lead psychologist for cleft, craniofacial and facial palsy services at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I have worked at the interface of physical health and emotional well-being for the past 18 years including within surgical multidisciplinary teams. I have a background in research and hope to bring this experience to my role within Cleft. I am interested to make more links within cleft and hear about new project ideas, particularly those that will improve the lived experience of those born with a cleft and their families.