Our people
Operation Smile’s leadership team helps to ensure we make the most efficient use of our precious resources. Our Board of Trustees and Medical Sub-Committee work tirelessly around the world to ensure our patients receive the highest quality cleft care and that we’re able to achieve our ambitious goal to reach 1 million patients in our next decade.
Our Board of Trustees
Dr Maria Moore
Maria has been involved with Operation Smile since 1999, first as a donor and then as a dental volunteer in Guwahati, India. She has attended international programmes to India, Panama, Colombia and The Philippines and is an active and dedicated fundraiser. She became chair of Operation Smile United Kingdom in December 2015.
Having graduated with honours in dentistry from Birmingham University in 1988, Maria’s career 32 year career spanned both the NHS and the private sector. After 22 years, Maria has recently sold her dental practice in Virginia Water and gives her time to Operation Smile UK in her capacity as chair of the board.
Andrew Bruce
Andrew is the Chief Investment Officer of Caledonian Advisory, an Asian investment firm.
Having worked in four continents in multiple environments and cultures, he has global experience in the alternative investment, private debt and equity markets.
Andrew joined the Board of Trustees of Operation Smile UK in September 2018 bringing his financial and fund-raising expertise and broad experience of Asia, Africa, the Gulf States and India.
Dr Phil McDonald – MB ChB, FRCA (UK)
Phil graduated from Liverpool University in Medicine. He is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester.
He has been Medical Director and a Trustee on the Board of Operation Smile UK since it was registered in 2002 and was featured in the BBC1 documentary about Operation Smile, ‘The Facemakers’, in June 2000 and in the 2009/10 Blue Peter Charity Appeal, ‘Send a Smile’, which also supported the charity.
Phil has been an anaesthesia volunteer with Operation Smile since 1995 and has been on numerous medical projects in Columbia, the West Bank, Romania, India, China, the Philippines, Kenya and Ethiopia.
He is committed to the provision of sustainable healthcare solutions in developing countries and has worked tirelessly to develop the anaesthesia capacity of Jimma University Hospital, Jimma, Ethiopia through the establishment of their Anaesthesia Residency Programme.
Chris Pinnington
Chris has spent his career managing Global Communications agencies, specialising in advertising, digital, PR, media and direct marketing.
He worked 32 years at Havas, most recently as Global Chief Operating Officer. Now a non-executive director, investor and adviser helping high potential companies to realise their true potential.
Chris joined Operation Smile UK’s Board of Trustees in February 2018. He brings a wealth of communication expertise to Operation Smile and works with us to ensure appropriate and relevant mix of communications across diverse communications channels.
Medical Sub-Committee
Operation Smile’s Medical Subcommittee sets the standards for recruiting medical volunteers in the UK. They provide oversight and guidance to the board and senior leadership team about Operation Smile UK supported programmes.
Members
The Medical Committee is comprised of experts in their fields, who attend medical projects regularly and are in contact with fellow Operation Smile volunteers.
Dr Phil McDonald – MB ChB, FRCA (UK)
Phil graduated from Liverpool University in Medicine. He is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester.
He has been Medical Director and a Trustee on the Board of Operation Smile UK since it was registered in 2002 and was featured in the BBC1 documentary about Operation Smile, ‘The Facemakers’, in June 2000 and in the 2009/10 Blue Peter Charity Appeal, ‘Send a Smile’, which also supported the charity.
Phil has been an anaesthesia volunteer with Operation Smile since 1995 and has been on numerous medical projects in Columbia, the West Bank, Romania, India, China, the Philippines, Kenya and Ethiopia.
He is committed to the provision of sustainable healthcare solutions in developing countries and has worked tirelessly to develop the anaesthesia capacity of Jimma University Hospital, Jimma, Ethiopia through the establishment of their Anaesthesia Residency Programme.
Dr Annemieke Miedema
Annemieke graduated from Maastricht University Medical School in the Netherlands and went on to train as a paediatric intensive care doctor. Having spent time in Australia and Canada she came to the United Kingdom in 2012 to work as a consultant in the paediatric intensive care department at Birmingham Woman’s and Children’s Hospital, where she focussed on education and improving patient pathways.
Since 2009 Annemieke has volunteered as an intensivist and team leader for Operation Smile, joining numerous surgical programmes around the world, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Jordan, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Madagascar, Malawi, and Paraguay.
In 2020 Annemieke returned to work in the Netherlands where she continues to support Operation Smile as a consultant, medical volunteer and member of the UK Medical Subcommittee.
Jackie Matthews
Jackie Matthews works as a cleft clinical nurse specialist (CNS) for South Thames cleft service, at St Thomas’s Hospital. She is an outreach CNS, covering Kent, East and West Sussex; she assesses new-borns, establishes feeding and supports patients through the cleft pathway to surgery, and beyond, as part of the wider multidisciplinary team. Her experience is as a surgical nurse, theatre recovery and health visitor (public health).
Jackie has volunteered with Operation Smile since 2011 and is part of the UK Medical Subcommittee. She attended five medical missions in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ghana and Malawi. She is involved with teaching and representing the charity at fundraising events. She is passionate about giving everyone the healthcare and support they deserve to live their life to the full.
Mr Per Hall FRCS (Plast)
Per has been a consultant plastic surgeon working at Addenbrooke’s University Hospital in Cambridge UK since 1996. He set up the Cleft Service in Cambridge but has now handed over the management of the East Anglian Cleft Lip and Palate service so he can concentrate more on working with Operation Smile.
Per became a volunteer surgeon with Operation Smile in 2009 – his first mission was in Jimma, Ethiopia. He has been to 15 medical missions. However, since 2012 Per has focussed his energy on Jimma, Ethiopia where he has returned on many occasions. There he has been helping the skilled local surgeons to develop their own plastic and reconstructive surgery service and a curriculum for training the next generation of plastic surgeons. Jimma is becoming established as a reconstructive and cleft centre for the south of Ethiopia serving a population of approximately 20 million people who have until now lived without any access to reconstructive surgery.
Wg Cdr Ankur Pandya
Qualifications: MBBS, MS, MCh, Dip. Nat. Board (Gen) (Plast), FRCS(Ed), FRCS(Glas) Eur.Dip. Hand Surg, FRCS (Plast), DMCC, OStJ. , RAF.
Ankur is a consultant plastic, hand & reconstructive surgeon, working both within the NHS and a full time Officer in the Royal Air Force Medical Services. He has been a volunteer with Operation Smile since 2006 and has completed 43 international medical missions all over the world. He was the regional medical officer for Operation Smile in the Central Region (2008-2010), the deputy chief medical officer worldwide in charge of Governance and Quality Assurance (2010-2015) and has concentrated on volunteering and teaching on Operation Smile missions in cleft and post burn conditions.
Our co-founders
Dr William P Magee Jr
Bill co-founded Operation Smile in 1982 with his wife Kathy in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. He is a plastic and craniofacial surgeon and serves as Operation Smile Inc. Chief Executive Officer at our global headquarters.
Over forty years, Bill has not only trained and mentored physicians worldwide, but he has taken Operation Smile into over 60 countries globally, building Operation Smile into a highly respected and leading organisation in cleft care provision for infants, children and young adults across the world.
Kathy Magee
Kathy Magee founded Operation Smile in 1982 with her husband, Dr. Bill Magee, and currently serves as its president on a full-time, volunteer basis. Kathy is also a lifetime member of the Board of Directors, overseeing funding and long-held organizational relationships. Kathy shapes future strategy and leads project design within medical mission programming and the education, training and student departments.
As a New Jersey native, Kathy received her B.S.N. from Misericordia University in Pennsylvania, her M.Ed. from the University of Maryland and her M.S.W. from Norfolk State University in Virginia. She also completed graduate work at the University of Virginia and the Jung Institute in Switzerland. She is a mother of five and grandmother to 14, all of whom participate in Operation Smile to promote service for the next generation.
Kathy is the recipient of honorary degrees from Fordham University, Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland, Loyola University in Maryland, Old Dominion University, Misericordia University and Denison University and was inducted into the Alumni Association Hall of Fame of the University of Maryland in 2000. In 2014, she received a prestigious honorary doctorate from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
