CFS Partners
The Foundation for Craniofacial Surgery is proud to support and work with individuals and organizations around that globe that share our passion for providing access to health care and other basic needs to under resourced children, families, and communities. Click on the links below to learn more about our partners and the work we all feel so privileged to engage in.
Connect MD
On a recent mission trip to Ecuador with her father, a prominent Los Angeles-based facial pastic surgeon, Kylie Azzizadeh was overwhlemed by the need she saw in the community she visited. More than that, however, she witnessed first hand how the power of education could make a much longer lasting and sustainable impact than what the surgeons could accomplish in the operating rooms during their stay. Specifically, she saw how engaging with the local host surgeons and contributing to their education empowered them to take care of the children and families she and her father would be leaving behind once her trip was over.
After discussing this with her father and Dr. Jarrahy, we all decided to join forces to help Kylie achieve her goal of helping Ecuadorian physicians access the educational tools they needed to improve how they deliver health care to Ecuadorian families. She founded Connect MD, an organization that supports the training and education of Ecuadorian doctors. In partnership with the Foundation with Craniofacial Surgery, Connect MD provides the opportunity for Ecuadorian physicians to visit Los Angeles. There they receive in depth training from their host physicians, particularly related to the care of children who are born with craniofacial differences, which training they use to help children back in Ecuador.
Connect MD is also working toward the creation of an online educational platform to facilitate discussion and communication between physicians in Ecuador and the U.S. in order to further enrich this educational partnership.
The Foundation for Craniofacial Surgery is proud to partner with Connect MD to achieve this important goal.
FCS/Connect MD Fellows:
Dr. Luis Francisco Alvarado Aguirre
Visitation date: August 2019
Dr. Aguirre
Facial reconstructive surgeon, completed general surgery training at Hospital Teodor Maldonado Carbo IESS in 2014 and plastic surgery fellowship at Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo in 2017
Dr. Aguirre will be visiting UCLA in August 2019 where he will be working with Dr. Jarrahy on the subjects of general and reconstructive plastic surgery.