The mission of the World Craniofacial Foundation is to give help, hope and healing to people with craniofacial abnormalities and their families.

All people with craniofacial abnormalities will receive excellent care regardless of geography and socio-economic class.  As an organization, the World Craniofacial Foundation will strive to be the global leader in advocacy for superb craniofacial patient care, education and research, as well as the primary resource of philanthropic support.

The World Craniofacial Foundation is dedicated to helping children with craniofacial abnormalities gain access to life-changing medical procedures.

Our motto is: Reconstruct a face; change a life!

Gifts to the Foundation provide for treatment and its secondary costs, resources for families, and continuing education for physicians, plus crucial, hands-on surgical training for young doctors.

In the late 1960s several plastic surgeons in North America began to dedicate their work entirely to the care of craniofacial birth defects and trauma. New insights and surgical techniques were rapidly developed and popularized. Children with major facial birth defects finally had champions to help them live more normal lives.

Two of the pioneers in craniofacial surgery were Dr. Kenneth E. Salyer and Dr. Ian Munro. Dr. Salyer, who worked for 38 years in Dallas, brought craniofacial surgery to the southwestern United States. Dr. Munro, now retired, blazed a similar trail in Canada. In the early 1980s, the leadership of Medical City Hospital invited both surgeons to develop a world-class craniofacial surgical institute in Dallas. In 1986, the Dallas Craniofacial Center began operation.

The World Craniofacial Foundation was organized by Dr. Salyer in 1989 in Dallas to help children with craniofacial deformities and give them a better start in life by providing the life-changing surgery they deserve.  The Foundation remained small until an article about Dr. Salyer and his work with children in the December 1996 issue of Parade Magazine brought recognition of its mission and a renewal of the Foundation’s vision.

Subsequent media attention from Oprah Winfrey as well as the local, national and world press regarding the successful separation surgery on the Ibrahim conjoined twins moved the Foundation forward and enabled help for more patients.  Recent expansion of the Foundation staff has provided a professional fundraising program and an additional family care director to extend the outreach.   No longer in private practice, Dr. Salyer has assumed the role of Chairman of the Board for the Foundation, continuing his compassionate advocacy for children.  The Foundation is currently supporting the separation surgery of Anastasia and Tatiana Dogaru (www.dogarutwins.com) but these two high-profile cases represent only a small portion of our work for children.