***The following content is a translation of a news report from Business Today. The article was written by the Digital Content Department, and the images were provided by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.**
**Please click on the URL to view the original article. https://www.businesstoday.com.tw/article/category/183029/post/202311090030/**

(The group photo of international experts invited to this joint conference, from left to right: Director Jui-Pin Lai, Prof. Figueroa, Prof. Chien-Tzung Chen, and the conference chairman Prof. Lun-Jou Lo.)

The 13th Asia-Pacific Craniofacial Conference and the 10th Asia-Pacific Cleft Conference were held together in Taiwan this year, considered a major event in the international medical community. The conference brought together a total of 500 medical experts from 34 countries, featuring six master-level scholars as keynote speakers, including Dr. Yu-Ray Chen, Dr. Chiung-Shing Huang, Dr. Fu-Chan Wei, Dr. Chien-Tzung Chen, Dr. David Fisher, and Dr. Alvaro Figueroa. All of them are renowned scholars in the fields of plastic surgery and craniofacial and cleft treatment.

Taiwan is recognized for having world-class craniofacial treatment technology, attracting individuals from various countries to come and learn each year. Prof. Lun-Jou Lo, the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Craniofacial and Asia-Pacific Cleft Associations, who also serves at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, stated that the three combined events, the 13th Asia-Pacific Craniofacial Conference, the 10th Asia-Pacific Cleft Conference, and the Chang Gung Forum, took place from the 5th to the 8th of this month at Taipei's Grand Hotel for four consecutive days. This year's conference theme is "Reunited and recharged: Moving forward together," emphasizing the need to restart and strengthen academic exchanges and clinical learning stagnated by the pandemic for the benefit of patients.

Professor Lo pointed out that the agenda covered a wide range of topics, including cleft lip repair, cleft palate repair, alveolar bone grafting, orthognathic surgery, early closure of cranial sutures, craniofacial deformities, craniofacial tumor reconstruction, and trauma deformity treatment. The content was rich and in-depth, providing attendees with many opportunities for learning through keynote speeches, panel discussions, correction workshops, free reports, and poster presentations.

On the first day of the program, a special collaboration with the internationally renowned Smile Train from the United States was arranged, conducting a simulated training for cleft lip and palate surgeries using physical models of cleft lips, cleft palates, and alveolar clefts. The training model for alveolar bone graft surgery was globally presented for the first time.

The six master-level scholars invited for special keynote speeches include Prof. Yu-Ray Chen from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, an expert in craniofacial surgery who has received the highest honor in the world of plastic surgery, the "Malignaggi Honor Award"; Prof. Chiung-Shing Huang from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, an expert in dentistry and orthodontics, who received the peer-reviewed award from the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association in 2023; Prof. Fu-Chan Wei from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, an expert in plastic surgery and microsurgery, a recipient of the 2019 Presidential Science Prize and the Malignaggi Honor Award, and currently a fellow of the Academia Sinica; and Chien-Tzung Chen, an expert in plastic surgery and craniofacial trauma surgery, currently the president of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou.

Additionally, Alvaro Figueroa from the United States, a renowned senior orthodontist, received the Contribution Award from the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association in 2023. David Fisher, from Canada, specializes in cleft lip and palate and microtia surgeries and has previously studied under Professor Yu-Ray Chen at Chang Gung.

Professor Lo emphasized that craniofacial patients not only endure the pain of being discriminated against due to facial abnormalities but also face various inconveniences in daily life. Therefore, helping them to be reborn is a lifelong mission for physicians and experts in the craniofacial field worldwide. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital will continue to enhance its technology, pursue excellence, and lead the way in assisting more patients worldwide to be reborn.