Smile Train Global Cleft Summit Speakers
Meet the Smile Train Global Cleft Summit Speakers
Dr. Court Cutting, MD
Chairman Emeritus
Smile Train Global MAB
Dr. Cutting graduated Summa Cum Laude from Penn State University followed by medical school at the University of Chicago. Surgical training consisted of an internship at Yale University, an Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery residency at the University of Iowa, and a plastic surgery residency and craniofacial fellowship at New York University (NYU). He joined the faculty at NYU in 1984 rising to the level of Professor of Plastic Surgery in 2008. Dr. Cutting was appointed director of the cleft lip and palate program at NYU in 1984 and served until he retired from clinical practice in 2014.
His research activities include computer based craniofacial morphometrics, intraoperative bone fragment positioning and animation of cleft surgery. His research at present involves development of a biophysically accurate cleft lip surgery simulator.
Dr. Larry Hollier, MD, FACS, FAAP
Chairman
Smile Train Global MAB
Larry H. Hollier, Jr., MD, FACS FAAP, is a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in plastic and reconstructive surgery, including cleft lip and palate, pediatric craniofacial and hand surgery. Dr. Hollier is a Professor of Plastic Surgery and Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and is the Surgeon-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. He serves on the board of the Duke Global Health Institute and as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Smile Train. He has authored more than 200 articles for scholarly and professional publications, written 37 book chapters, and made dozens of presentations to professional audiences worldwide on a full range of topics related to plastic and reconstructive surgery.
Dr. Hollier is on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals, including the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery and Selected Readings in Plastic Surgery, and he is the section editor for pediatric and craniofacial surgery for the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal. He serves as co-editor of the Journal of Craniomaxillofacial Trauma and Reconstruction and is the Editor-in-Chief of Seminars in Plastic Surgery. In 2016, Dr. Hollier was named the Press Ganey Physician of the Year for his leadership in improving the Patient Experience at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Susannah Schaefer
Executive Vice Chair, President & CEO, Smile Train
Mrs. Schaefer joined the organization in 2013, after serving as a Board member for 10 years, with almost 20 years of international marketing experience in operational roles across several agencies and corporations. As CEO, she helped lead an organization rebrand, seeded funding for hundreds of thousands of new smiles, and spearheaded the development of the ground-breaking Virtual Surgery Simulator, further accelerating cleft surgical training and enhancing the organization’s “teach a man to fish” model.
Professor Lun Jou-Lo
Dr. Lo is an expert in aesthetic and plastic surgery, cleft lip/palate surgery, management of velopharyngeal dysfunction, craniomaxillofacial surgery, orthognathic surgery, facial contouring surgery, 3D medical imaging, surgical simulation, 3D printing, and outcome assessment. Dr. Lo is International Associate Editor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (IF 3.946), Associate Editor of Biomedical Journal (IF 2.301), and Executive editor of Journal of the Formosan Medical Association (IF 2.844). He is the senior council member of Taiwan (China) Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.
Dr. Lo has published more than 200 peer-review scientific articles and authored several book chapters. He has been invited by international societies and centers for lecturing and surgical demonstration. He has received honorable awards and honored professorship from many centers. The Craniofacial Imaging Lab and the Craniofacial Research Center is specialized in 3D imaging for assessment, planning, surgical simulation, 3D printing and validation. The works resulted in numerous publications in distinguished journals. The medical imaging has improved the treatment outcome in restoring function and facial appearance.
Dr. Felicity Mehendale
Felicity Vidya Mehendale is a Plastic, Reconstructive and Cleft Surgeon and led the East of Scotland Cleft Lip and Palate Service for over 13 years. She now leads the Global Cleft Lip and Palate Research Programme, in the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. Current research includes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in evaluation of a range of cleft outcomes, identifying early predictors of outcomes, cleft epidemiological studies, perioperative care and standards and access to cleft care globally.
She trained as a doctor in Bombay University and then worked as a general surgeon in India, completing her MS Gen Surgery, before training as a plastic surgeon in the UK. She was a cleft clinical and research fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health, London.
She was awarded the Hallet Prize by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Ian McGregor Medal by the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons; and is the only person to have been awarded the Arnold Huddart Medal on two occasions, for her research, by the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Dr. Roberto L. Flores
Dr. Flores is an internationally recognized leader in cleft lip and palate, Pierre Robin sequence and surgical simulation. He currently has over one million dollars in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to investigate bone tissue engineering solutions in the growing craniofacial skeleton. Through strategic partnerships between philanthropy, industry and medicine, he has led the development of three, freely available, web-based multimedia plastic surgery simulators, including Smile Train’s Virtual Surgery Simulator, the most widely used surgical simulator for cleft lip and palate reconstruction with over 4000 users in over 140 countries.
Professor Kokila Lakhoo
Professor Lakhoo received an honorary professorship from the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. She is director of a global surgery course for Oxford University and represents Oxford University for children’s global surgery matters. She is chair of the international forum for the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons and is personally developing paediatric surgery through a link in Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa. Professor Lakhoo is the president of Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery (GICS) that has followed on from the Lancet Commission. She is editor of four books including a recent joint venture with her African colleague as editor to a text book named "Paediatric Surgery: a comprehensive text for Africa" To-date, she has contributed to 71 chapters of paediatric surgical text books and has over 300 peer reviewed publications.
Aaron Oliker
Mr. Oliker is an expert in 3D technology who has been working in the field of interactive 3D simulation and medical visualization. His work has helped pioneer a new paradigm in the field of medical and surgical education. Aaron has been working with Smile Train’s team since 1999 and has led the design and development of Smile Train’s Virtual Surgery Simulator. Aaron was previously a Research Assistant Professor at New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Mr. Oliker’s current work is focused on the development of augmented and virtual reality applications for medical centers, charities, medical device, and pharmaceutical companies using the BioDigital Human platform with more than four million registered users around the world.