Opening the first centre in Mangalore

Our Cleft-centre in Mangalore, established in 2001, developed under the leadership of Prof. Krishna Shama Rao into a clinic focussing on cranio-facial malformation surgery. In the summer of 2007 Prof. Rao passed on the activities to his young colleague and successor, Dr. Dr. Vikram Shetty.

When the first Cleft-centre opened in Mangalore in 2001, the work of Cleft-Children International CCI in India actually truly started. "It was fantastic when we arrived there," explains Erika Sailer, "for the first time the foundation was actually present as a sponsor: the corridors of the surgery and the patient rooms were covered with posters presenting examples of cleft lips and palates before and after the respective operations, above which we had the blue logo of the foundation. Our logo, our foundation!" And from then on, the centre developed under the leadership of Prof. Krishna Shama Rao into one of the most successful further training centres for cleft and cranio-facial malformation surgery. In summer 2007 Prof. Rao handed over the work to his young colleague and successor, Dr. Dr. Vikram Shetty. Under the leadership of the new young director, who is both doctor and dentist as well as fully trained oral and maxillofacial surgeon who had already attracted attention through his development of a number of new treatment methods, the focus shifted in particular into operations and the treatment of cranio-facial malformations. Up until today, more than 8,000 cleft patients have been treated here.
 

Dr. Shetty was appointed in 2016 as Professor and Director of the clinic for orthodontic and maxillo-facial surgery.  Since 2007 he has authored and published a number of key scientific papers. When the CCI started in Mangalore it had the status of a college, in the meantime it has developed into one of the leading universities in India under the directorship of Dr. Vinay Hegde. Prof. Sailer received his seventh honorary doctorate from this university in 2017.