Having completed my plastic surgery training at the East of England deanery based at Cambridge, I specialised exclusively in cleft surgery by obtaining the highly coveted national TIG fellowship in Cleft surgery at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London.
I have been a consultant cleft surgeon since 2021 and since then have acquired extensive experience in cleft lip and palate surgery, speech surgery, and revisional surgery and rhinoplasty for adults born with cleft lip and / or palate. I have had the pleasure of working in multiple cleft units across the UK and undertaking charity trips with Operation Smile and Global Smile Foundation abroad.
I am passionate about cleft surgery and ensuring equity of care across our network, the nation, and around the world. My specialist area of interest is surgery to improve speech in children born with or without cleft palate. I value the input of every member of the cleft multidisciplinary team – nurses, speech therapists, psychologists, paediatricians, anaesthetists, dentists, orthodontists, geneticists and other surgeons, and always aim to work cohesively with the team to produce the best results for our patients.
I have a good track record in research with multiple publications and presentations at national and international conferences. I care deeply about teaching and training the surgeons of tomorrow and inspiring more trainees to pursue a career in this extremely rewarding specialty. I have had the privilege of training multiple plastic surgery and maxillofacial surgery trainees and three cleft TIG fellows. I have designed and created teaching videos to help international cleft surgeons perform speech surgery. I am a credentialed Clinical Educator with Operation Smile teaching surgeons in low and middle income countries to create sustainable practice.
I am the secretary of the Surgical Clinical Excellence Network, working with the Department of Health (previously NHS England) to create the new national cleft service specifications. I have a strong focus on service improvement without compromising the excellent standard of care that we provide for our patients. With active patient engagement, I look forward to patient feedback on how we could improve our service.