Scientific Sub-Committee Co-Chair
For the last 2 decades, I have been leading local, national, European and global research in the field of craniofacial anomalies and cleft lip and palate which includes the following. Convenor of research group in Cleft Care Scotland and Leader for the Craniofacial Anomalies theme in the WHO Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Birth Defects initiative arising from the recommendations of the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010. Chaired the Craniofacial Anomalies Group of the IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Agenda (GOHIRN) and was appointed honorary secretary of the IADR Global Oral Health Inequalities Research Network in August 2012. Chair of the international Task Force on epidemiology, etiology and prevention of cleft lip and palate in June 2013. Through the WHO Collaborating Centre international collaborations and links with craniofacial units throughout the world have been established, involvement in consensus meetings to establish WHO strategies and research projects on treatment etiology and prevention of cleft lip and palate, particularly in developing countries.