Education & Research Programs

Education Programs Operation Smile offers educational opportunities including conferences, workshops and medical exchanges to Chinese medical professionals.

Physicians Training Program

Our annual Physicians’ Training Program (PTP) gives physicians from our partner countries the opportunity to expand and share their knowledge by observing and discussing complex craniofacial surgeries, attending discipline-specific medical lectures, practicing medical techniques and conducting laboratory work. This past year, 61 doctors from 22 countries attended the two-week program and three World Care Program patients were brought to the U.S. for craniofacial surgery. Anesthesia/Pediatrics participants received additional training in the American Heart Association’s Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) courses. To date, Operation Smile has brought more than 600 medical professionals to Norfolk, Va., for PTP.

Educational Exchanges and University Partnerships

Operation Smile offers educational exchange programs to in-country medical professionals through partnerships with leading medical teaching institutions. Operation Smile pairs in-country teams of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals with universities and educational institutions across the globe, training them in advanced techniques, partnering with them in research, and sharing with them the gift of treating children. These opportunities, which are coordinated and sponsored by Operation Smile, begin but don’t end with fellowships, emeritus professorships and visiting professorship programs. These partnerships ultimately result in treatment centers that take care of patients year-round. These treatment centers then become the educational resource for their own country and region.

PARTNERS IN EDUCATION
American Heart Association
Chang Gung Hospital and University
Duke University
George Washington University
The Hospital for Sick Children / University of Toronto
Southern Illinois University
University of Maryland
University of Rome
University of Southern California
Yale University

EXCHANGE DISCIPLINES
Anesthesia
Child Life Psychology
Dentistry
Nursing
Pediatrics
Plastic Surgery
Speech Pathology

American Heart Association PALS, ACLS and BLS Certification

Operation Smile is an International Training Organization (ITO) of the American Heart Association (AHA). The program allows Operation Smile to develop training networks and provide Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) training to physicians around the world. Operation Smile is the only organization authorized by the AHA to function as a global and mobile ITO.

Programs

Student Programs

Patient Resources