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.
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.
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.
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
Kathy Magee
Kathy Magee is the President and CEO of Operation Smile, which she co-founded in 1982 with her husband, Dr. Bill Magee. She currently leads all aspects of the organisation at our global headquarters.
As Co-Founder and a lifetime member of the Board of Directors, Kathy has been instrumental in shaping the organisation’s future strategy and leading project design. She has grown and expanded many of Operation Smile’s signature initiatives, including student programmes and Women in Medicine.
In more than forty years of work with Operation Smile, Kathy has traveled overseas extensively to expand in-country boards while cultivating key corporate, diplomatic, government and medical partnerships. She has also fostered university partnerships and research with academic institutions to better understand the causes of cleft.
Dr Bill Magee
Bill Magee Jr., D.D.S., M.D., is a plastic and craniofacial surgeon who founded Operation Smile in 1982 with his wife, Kathleen S. Magee. Today he serves as the organisation’s CEO Emeritus at our global headquarters. From 1982-2023 he was Operation Smile’s CEO.
During the last four decades Bill has trained and mentored physicians worldwide and taken Operation Smile to more than 60 countries around the world. His passion and commitment have helped build Operation Smile’s global reputation as a highly-respected and leading organisation in cleft care provision for infants, children and young adults.