Welcome to Operation Smile at Yale

Operation Smile at is an international, non-profit organization that sends teams of surgeons and other health professionals to over 25 countries worldwide to do free reconstructive surgeries on children with facial deformities. Repairing cleft lips and cleft palates are the most common surgeries on the missions, but the surgeons also do a lot of tumor removals and burn releases. The areas Operation Smile medical missions travel to are generally very impoverished, and children with facial deformities in these communities are often seen as cursed. Many of them are not allowed to leave their homes to go to school, make friends, or ever have normal lives. A simple cleft lip operation takes about 45 minutes and costs about $240 on average. For this small amount of time and money, a child's life is completely changed.

Operation Smile at Yale is a college chapter which was founded in 2006 and is dedicated to the five pillars of Operation Smile Student Associations: awareness, leadership, education, fundraising, and service. For the 2008-2009 academic year, we hope to hold fundraising events in conjunction with other student organizations, educate local middle and high school students about cleft lips and cleft palates, and host speakers who represent Operation Smile and like-minded causes.  

Email the Coordinator of Operation Smile at Yale at jessica.catlin@yale.edu

Or check out www.operationsmile.org for more information.

How can I get involved?