Dr. Deborah Iera took some time away from her duties in Montreal last month to tend to the needs of children with cleft lip and palate in Vietnam. For Dr. Iera, Director of the Undergraduate OMFS Program, the trip was a wonderful experience. “It was great to bring extra medical help to Vietnam,” she says. “I will definitely be doing more missions in the future to help others and represent McGill.” Her travels took her first to Japan where she joined a team led by Dr. Minami, Associate Professor of Cleft Lip and Palate Center, University Hospital of Aichi-Gakuin and Dr. Mori, Associate Professor of the Second Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry. The team consisted of 18 people including two other McGill Dentistry graduates, Dr. Moghadam and Dr. Matouk and anesthetists, nurses and students. From there the team travelled to Ninh Binh in Vietnam for 10 days where they screened patients and performed 37 cleft lip surgeries. The Japanese team has been going to Vietnam for the past 17 years and helped countless individuals with cleft lip and palate.
