Eric Liao, M.D., Ph.D., Shriners Hospitals for Children — Boston

Eric C. Liao:

My name is Eric Liao. I'm a plastic surgeon at Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston. I'm also the Co-director of our Cleft and Craniofacial Program here in Boston. The Shriners Program for cleft left lip and palate is truly unique for several reasons. One is the multi-disciplinary and longitudinal aspect of it, where we bring together all specialists on one day for the care of the family and the child. In addition, we have cutting edge research, looking at the genetics of craniofacial development from a rare syndromes, as well as to common cleft lip and palette.

The focus of our research at Shriners Hospital is to figure out the genetic basis of common and also rare craniofacial disorders, such as cleft lip and palate, and complex frontal nasal dysplasia, and hemifacial microsomia. We are able to take care of the patient clinically, do the reconstruction and repair of these problems, and also carry out studies to understand the genetic basis of these problems. The best thing about working at Shriners Hospital, is to work with the families and children. The favorite part of my day is after an operation the next morning, when visiting the families to see parents with tears of joy, the size of jellybeans.