Mr Brian Sommerlad

Mr Brian Sommerlad is an honorary consultant plastic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, and at the St Andrew's Centre for Plastic Surgery, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford. He was the first Clinical Director of the North Thames Cleft Lip and Palate Service (GOStA).

Although involved in many aspects of plastic surgery, Mr Sommerlad's main activity now is centred around surgery for children and adults with a cleft of lip and palate and associated conditions. He has been particularly involved in the development of the operating microscope for cleft palate repair and in refining surgery for repair of the muscles in cleft palate, and in re-repairing the cleft palate as an alternative to pharyngoplasty in some patients.

Mr Sommerlad regularly visits countries where cleft lip and palate services are less well-developed, to work with local surgeons and to assist in their development of multi-disciplinary teams. He is a Trustee of Interface Uganda and also works with cleft teams in Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt, Bangladesh and Venezuela. He is an honorary member of the Indian Society of Cleft Lip, Palate and Craniofacial Anomalies and regularly attends meetings in India. He is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of Smile Train, a US-based charity dedicated to empowering and supporting local surgeons and teams to carry out the cleft lip and palate surgery. He is also a past president of both the British Association of Plastic Surgeons and the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain and Ireland.