Tune in for the latest in our series on Cleft Surgery featuring Dr. Raj Vyas from UC Irvine and Dr. Usama Hamdan with the Global Smile Foundation. The discussion will focus on making sure that attendees know proper procedures as well as common complications and how to avoid them.
Larry Hartzell, MD FAAP is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. He is the Director of the Pediatric Otolaryngology fellowship. Dr Hartzell also has been the Cleft Team Director in Arkansas since 2012. He is passionate about international humanitarian mission work and dedicates much of his research efforts to cleft surgical and clinical care as well as velopharyngeal insufficiency. Dr Hartzell is actively involved in multiple academic societies and organizations including the AAO-HNS and ACPA.
Dr. Goudy is a professor at Emory University School of Medicine and the director of the division of otolaryngology at Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta. Dr. Goudy’s clinical job involves repair of craniofacial malformations including cleft lip, cleft palate, and Pierre Robin sequence, and he also participates in head and neck tumor resection and reconstruction.
Dr. Hamdan is President and Co-Founder of Global Smile Foundation, a 501C3 Boston-based non-profit foundation that provides comprehensive and integrated pro bono cleft care for underserved patients throughout the world. He has been involved with outreach cleft programs for over three decades. Dr. Hamdan is an Otolaryngologist/Facial Plastic Surgeon with former university appointments at Harvard Medical School, Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Medicine. For his philanthropic service to the people of Ecuador, he was awarded the Knighthood, “Al Merito Atahualpa” En El Grado De Caballero, by the President of Ecuador in March 2005. He received Honorary Professorship at Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo, School of Medicine, in Ecuador on March 5, 2015 for his contributions in the field of Cleft Lip and Palate.
Dr. Vyas obtained his BS from Stanford and his MD from UCLA before completing integrated plastic surgery residency at Harvard and a fellowship in Craniofacial Surgery at NYU. He is an active clinician, scientist and educator with over 200 peer-reviewed publications and presentations, 20 book chapters, dozens of invited lectures, and multiple NIH and foundational grants. Dr. Vyas is passionate about advancing knowledge and skill for cleft care worldwide, partnering with Global Smile Foundation as both a clinician and Director of Research.
After completing a pediatric craniofacial fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, he joined the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis 2011. He is Director of Craniofacial and Medical Director of the Operating Rooms at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH). He treats patients with craniosynostosis or other craniofacial abnormalities (congenital or traumatic). He obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation in May 2017 at Washington University to advance his ability to perform high quality clinical research and this program allows him to take advantage of the tremendous resources available for faculty and residents. His research focus is in craniofacial with particular interest in craniosynostosis and cleft lip and palate.
Dr. David Yates MD, DMD, FACS is passionate about serving children with Cranial and Facial deformities and Cleft Lip and Palate. He is a Board Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and was recently awarded the inaugural “Physician of the Year” award by El Paso Children’s Hospital. He is the Division Chief of Cranial and Facial Surgery at El Paso Children’s Hospital and has been critical in bringing complex craniofacial surgery to the region. In addition to being a partner with High Desert Oral and Facial Surgery, he directs the craniofacial clinic at El Paso Children’s Hospital and the craniofacial clinic at Providence Memorial Hospital. He has also been integral in starting a clinic for children with Cleft Lip and Palate in Juarez, Mexico at the Hospital De La Familia (FEMAP). He is now happily settled with his wife and four kids serving the greater El Paso/Las Cruces/Juarez region.