Smile Train Leader Susannah Schaefer Speaks at Consumer Electronics Show
How we are using the latest tech to bring hope to those in need
Earlier this month, Smile Train President and CEO Susannah Schaefer was honored to be invited to the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to participate in a panel discussion on the intersection of technology and social good alongside the heads of other leading healthcare NGOs.
The session, “How Mission-Driven Innovation is Solving Humanity’s Biggest Problems,” brought the critical discussion of technology’s potential to save lives and increase access to healthcare for all front-and-center at the world’s premier high-tech showcase.
It was moderated by Gretchen Littlefield, CEO of Moore, a leading marketing agency for purpose-driven organizations, including Smile Train.
For Schaefer, it was an opportunity to highlight how high-tech innovation has always been at the core of Smile Train’s work advancing and democratizing cleft care — and the key to our success.
“Smile Train was founded by a tech entrepreneur, Charles B. Wang,” she pointed out. In an era when flying outside doctors into then out of areas of need on short-term cleft “missions” was the norm, Wang, as usual, had a different idea. He realized that training and equipping the medical workers already in their communities could make high-quality, free cleft care always available to children in need. He called it the “teach a person to fish” model based on an ancient adage, but understood putting it into practice would require breakthrough innovations.
“He said technology is in our DNA, so let’s always put technology at the forefront,” Schaefer recalled on stage. “Let's use it as a tool… to be able to train local surgeons.” That spirit led to the creation of Smile Train Express, our groundbreaking database system that is now the world’s largest repository of data on clefts; our Virtual Surgery Simulator; the training DVDs that we mailed to our partners around the world; and so much more.
Though he passed away in 2018, Wang’s visionary spirit lives on in Simulare Medical, a Division of Smile Train, the manufacturer of the world’s premier 3D cleft simulators; our speech therapy apps; our immersive VR app for helping children navigate psychosocial challenges; our continued innovations in partner training; and so much else."
Shaeffer also took the opportunity to note, in front of some of the most influential people and brands in electronics, that for Smile Train and other organizations like ours, the drive to innovate comes from a place so often overlooked in conversations about advancing technology: giving hope to those in need.
We are working in over 75 countries where there is limited access to care. To us, that means there's so much opportunity ahead with technology. A big part of our work is awareness, raising awareness for cleft lip and palate treatment, that people with untreated clefts can go to their [local Smile Train partner] to get 100% free support for cleft treatment. So there's so much connection in there with technology and reaching more people…. Not everyone has access to resources for information on cleft treatment, but everyone around the world has a smartphone, and that gives you access to our services, helps you know where to go for help. And that brings hope to people who have so often lost it.
Smile Train thanks Moore, Gretchen Littlefield, and the Consumer Technology Association for this opportunity to highlight how we are using tech for good on such a prestigious stage.
