Quick Facts

• Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity. In 1982, Operation Smile was founded by Dr. William P. Magee Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, a nurse and clinical social worker.
  
  
• Since 1982, more than 130,000 children and young adults with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities have been treated by thousands of volunteers worldwide and thousands of medical professionals have been trained globally.
  
  
• Operation Smile was launched after its first mission to the Philippines in 1982. Operation Smile currently has a presence in 51 countries.

*Programs being developed by neighboring Current Program Countries
†New resource partner

• For a little as $240, Operation Smile can change a child’s life by giving the gift of a surgery. Revenue in excess of surgical costs is invested into our sustainability programs, empowering our partner countries to treat more children on their own. In as little as 45 minutes, one cleft lip surgery can change a child’s life forever.
  
  
• Operation Smile has more than 4,000 credentialed medical volunteers ready to donate their time and talent.
  
  
• Operation Smile has created a global medical institution comprised of a worldwide network of teaching hospitals and university partners to help train healthcare professionals. Our partners in education include Chang Gung Hospital and University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Duke University, George Washington University, The Hospital for Sick Children/University of Toronto, Old Dominion University, Penn State University, Southern Illinois University, University of Maryland, University of Rome, University of Southern California and Yale University.
  
  
• Operation Smile is an International Training Organization (ITO) of the American Heart Association (AHA), authorized by the AHA to function as a global and mobile ITO.
  
  
• Operation Smile has Global Resource Chapters and U.S. Chapters that raise funds, recruit volunteers and raise awareness. U.S. Chapters are located in North/South Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and District of Columbia, as well as offices in New York City and Los Angeles.
  
  
• Thousands of students in more than 500 Operation Smile Student Clubs in the United States and around the world build awareness, raise funds and educate students about values of commitment, leadership and volunteerism.
  
  
• The annual Operation Smile Physicians’ Training Program (PTP) brings doctors and nurses from around the world to the United States for advanced training in their specialized skills. Since 1987, nearly 800 health care professionals have attended the program, held at our headquarters in Norfolk, VA.
  
  
• The World Care Program brings children and young adults, through sponsorships, to the United States and other World Care Program countries for surgeries that are too complicated to be performed during in-country missions. Since 1985, more than 200 World Care patients have received life-changing surgery.