Chair of Cleft 2022
President of International Confederation of Cleft Lip & Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies (ICCPCA)
Felicity Vidya Mehendale is a Plastic, Reconstructive and Cleft Surgeon and led the East of Scotland Cleft Lip and Palate Service for over 13 years. She now leads the Global Cleft Lip and Palate Research Programme, in the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. Current research includes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in evaluation of a range of cleft outcomes, identifying early predictors of outcomes, cleft epidemiological studies, perioperative care and standards and access to cleft care globally.
She trained as a doctor in Bombay University and then worked as a general surgeon in India, completing her MS Gen Surgery, before training as a plastic surgeon in the UK. She was a cleft clinical and research fellow at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health, London.
She was awarded the Hallet Prize by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Ian McGregor Medal by the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons; and is the only person to have been awarded the Arnold Huddart Medal on two occasions, for her research, by the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland.