CLEFT was established in 2007 by cleft surgeon Brian Sommerlad - based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, together with a former patient's grandmother. CLEFT is a charity that is focused on bridging the gap in cleft care and knowledge, so that children born with cleft lip and palate have access to safe, multi-disciplinary care. We are committed to providing long-term and sustainable solutions in lower and middle income countries as well as making headway into understanding why clefts occur and pioneering new treatments through research.

But we can do more!

We are now very excited to announce plans to expand both our research and overseas arms. CLEFT Chairman, Brian Sommerlad, explained on a live Facebook stream what these changes will be.

The type of research projects that we will support won't change but the research arm of CLEFT will become national and will be a platform for fund-raising for research by all the UK cleft centres – and in overseas centres supported by CLEFT.

We have been involved with centres in a number of lower-income countries already but the international arm of CLEFT will support projects which are in line with CLEFT’s ethos and are approved by the trustees in more low-middle income countries:

This move to become national means the important work we do will benefit more children in the UK and overseas. Please continue to support us by signing up to our mailing list, getting involved with an event or by making a donation. We would love to hear from you if you would like to get involved!

To donate, click here.

If you would like to get involved with fundraising and support our expansion plans, please click here.