September 17, 2025 – ACPA and the Visiting Scholar Selection Panel are pleased to introduce the 2026 Visiting Scholars. Both visiting scholars are anticipated to visit multiple ACPA Approved Teams in the spring to learn more about interdisciplinary cleft and craniofacial team care. The scholars will also attend ACPA’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts and give a presentation about their experiences.
Weiyi Sun, MD | ACPA – Smile Train Visiting Scholar
Dr. Weiyi Sun is an experienced plastic surgeon specializing in cleft lip and palate repair, with additional expertise in aesthetic procedures including blepharoplasty and facial rejuvenation. After earning her MD from Peking Union Medical College, she completed advanced subspecialty training in craniofacial surgery, rhinoplasty, otoplasty, and burn reconstruction at China’s leading Plastic Surgery Hospital. As Deputy Chief Physician, her clinical practice focuses on primary and secondary cleft repairs, alveolar bone grafting, and velopharyngeal dysfunction management.
Dr. Sun has led multiple research projects funded by national and institutional grants, investigating improvements in treatment strategies, with particular emphasis on applying precision medicine and AI technologies to cleft diagnosis and treatment optimization. Her work on ultrasound-based assessment of microform cleft lip and precision medicine-based evaluation of dynamic cleft deformities has been published in leading journals including Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Aesthetic Surgery Journal. As an active academic contributor, Dr. Sun serves on committees of China’s major plastic surgery societies. She is a frequently invited speaker at national conferences, where she shares her clinical experience and research findings.
Dr. Sun is expected to visit two ACPA Approved Teams – Dell Children’s Craniofacial and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Center in Austin, Texas and Children’s Hospital of Colorado Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Program in Aurora, Colorado.
Zana Aziz, BDS, MSc, FICD, FPF| ACPA Visiting Scholar
Dr. Zana Hussein Aziz is a Consultant Orthodontist from Sulaimani Health Directory, based in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He earned his MSc in Orthodontics from the University of Sulaimani in 2008 and his Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) from the same university in 2001, graduating fifth in a class of 19. From January 2008 to December 2009, Dr. Aziz served as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Orthodontics at the College of Dentistry, University of Sulaimani. In 2018, he received a Diploma in Teaching – Academic Capacity Development from Sulaimani Polytechnic University. Dr. Aziz was a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy (PFA) in 2023, and a Fellow of the International College of Dentists (FICD) in 2024. He became the Head of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Section of PFA in 2023. Dr. Aziz works as cleft and craniofacial orthodontist and has participated in many conferences regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Dr. Aziz has published five papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals. In 2023, he authored Ligation and Tying Methods in Fixed Orthodontic Appliances – Clinical Manual Series for Orthodontists, Volume I, the first in a planned series of clinical orthodontics manuals. He also volunteers his services, providing dental and orthodontic care for children at the juvenile home in Sulaimaniyah. In collaboration with orthodontic professors, consultants, and specialists from more than 30 countries, Dr. Aziz has hosted and moderated over 310 webinars and virtual meetings on a range of orthodontic topics.
Fluent in Arabic, Kurdish, and English, Dr. Aziz’s personal interests and activities include managing personal, investments, swimming, mountain hiking, going to the theatre, and attending music concerts.
Dr. Aziz is expected to visit two ACPA Approved Teams – Children’s Hospital of Orange County Craniofacial Team in Orange, California and Nationwide Children’s Hospital Cleft Lip & Palate Center/Center for Complex Craniofacial Disorders in Columbus, Ohio.
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The ACPA Visiting Scholar Program (VSP) selects cleft and/or craniofacial care providers from developing countries to travel to the United States and Canada to learn more about cleft and craniofacial care from ACPA Approved Teams. The purpose of the program is to give scholars a first-hand opportunity to see interdisciplinary team-based cleft/craniofacial care and provide them with the knowledge to establish or improve cleft and/or craniofacial care within their home country in a team setting. Learn more about the Visiting Scholar Program.
