Manila, Philippines, July 2, 2025 – I was fortunate to visit teams from three sites: the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tennessee and the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Anschutz and Colorado Springs.

This visit was invaluable for both me and my team, as it underscored the great need to improve and enhance the treatment and processes in our centers. I greatly appreciated the thoughtful organization of the program—before I even arrived, a structured schedule was already in place, ensuring that I metdifferent providers and maximized my time at each site. Additionally, the opportunity to rotate through various aspects of cleft care provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the full patient journey, allowing me to grasp the scope of interventions and support that patients require.

Some of the highlights of my visit included:

• Exposure to different aspects of cleft and craniofacial care. I shadowed different providers and observed various therapeutic approaches, gaining insight into the multidisciplinary nature of treatment. This included presurgical orthopedics, orthodontics, surgery, speech therapy, feeding, audiology and otolaryngology.
•  Learning about patient care coordination. The program managers and treatment coordinators across all teams introduced me to the best practices in patient management, follow-up procedures, and interdisciplinary collaboration, to streamline care.
• Gaining better decision-making skills for better patient outcomes. Through direct observation of patient treatments, discussions with various providers, and participation in team meetings, I gained valuable insights into planning treatment for complex cases, including those involving syndromes.
• Building relationships for future collaboration. I had the opportunity to connect with various professionals and experts in Tennessee, Colorado, and the ACPA conference.

In the next few weeks, I will present insights and learnings from this experience during the foundation’s quarterly meeting and at the clinical conference of the university I am affiliated with. We are also planning to implement some of the things I have learned, applying them to enhance the treatment of our patients. Through the connections I have made during the Visiting Scholar Program, a member of our team will soon visit another center in Southeast Asia, where some ACPA members have established a successful model program for cleft and craniofacial care in an LMIC setting. A few experts I met during the program have also agreed to join our team’s book club, providing a valuable forum for discussing patient care and sharing best practices.

The Visiting Scholar Program has been an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling experience for me. My team and I are deeply grateful for the knowledge, support, and collaboration I have received, all of which will make a meaningful impact on our patient care, both in the months ahead and in the years to come.

Dr. Cecile Cabrera