Our Story and Impact

At Operation Smile, we believe that every child deserves access to high-quality health care. We’re working hand-in-hand with communities worldwide to expand access to care through training and educational programs, and offering free, life-changing cleft surgeries and comprehensive care.

Our History Our Future

Founded in 1982 by Dr. Bill Magee and Kathy Magee, Operation Smile is a global nonprofit specializing in cleft surgery and care. We provide medical training, education and mentorship to surgical teams around the world, along with expertise, research and care through our staff and volunteers, working alongside local governments, nonprofits and health systems.

Our team approach provides the highest quality care for patients living in countries with under-resourced health systems where safe surgery and cleft care may be unavailable or inaccessible to them. Our community-focused patient recruitment efforts locate children in need of essential cleft surgery and provide them with accessible follow-up treatments.

Learn more about the history of Operation Smile.

Our Impact

As a global network, Operation Smile trains health care providers on the ground to expand their own network of care, enabling them to serve children in need more quickly and comprehensively. We build local capacity to provide surgery and care for thousands of children each year.

We know that providers in low-resource environments are more than capable of revolutionizing the delivery of care and creating solutions. They just need the resources to make that happen.

Learn more about how we are strengthening health care workforces.

Our Commitment

Children born with cleft conditions often require multiple surgical procedures, dentistry, orthodontics, speech therapy and psychosocial care throughout their youth. Our teams encompass a wide range of medical specialists, all professionally certified and committed to providing excellent care for our patients at every stage of their treatment.

We provide every aspect of cleft care that is needed at no cost to the families we serve.