Building Cleft Care Specialty Teams Through Talent Sharing and Giving
Experienced Consultation Services to Serve and Empower
Building Cleft Care Specialty Teams Through Talent Sharing and Giving
Experienced Consultation Services to Serve and Empower
Cleft Team Partnerships
Who We Are
At Cleft Team Partnerships International (CTPI), we believe that patients with facial clefts are best served by a team approach, no matter where they are in the world. Our VISION is to foster and expand sustainability and excellence in cleft patient care through a sharing of experience and talent. Together we can do more. Our MISSION serves this vision by establishing long term partnerships with clinicians and healthcare systems geared toward the building and guidance of multidisciplinary cleft teams responsive to local realities.
About Cleft Team Partnerships International
Our Story
Cleft Team Partnerships International is a nonprofit health organization and is the culmination of over twenty years of dedicated surgical care for patients in the U.S. and abroad. We grew out of the realization that patients with complex craniofacial conditions, like cleft lip and cleft palate, are best served by a team approach with properly timed clinical interventions, performed by those with appropriate experience. Over the last two decades, we have established ourselves as a trusted partner that delivers compassion and quality care for patients with craniofacial conditions, serving alongside partners in the Philippines, Peru, and Ukraine.
Our Services
We offer experienced and expert consultation and liaison services in order to assist in establishing and guiding cleft specialty teams. We do this in partnership with governmental health agencies/ non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and clinicians, with shorter and longer term engagements based on need. Our services include: helping to identify, recruit, and train team members; connecting team members to continued education; establishing safety, outcome, and quality measures; establishing rational, evidence-based treatment protocols adaptive to local scenarios; development of, and participation in, educational symposia; fostering surgical training through observerships and mentoring programs, and more.
Our Consultants
Mark Hnatiuk, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Mark Hnatiuk, MD, FACS leads the team as a skilled and experienced craniofacial reconstructive surgeon and head and neck surgeon. He had the honor of training with the world renowned craniofacial reconstructive surgeon, Ian T. Jackson, MD. Dr. Hnatiuk not only has extensive experience as a surgeon, but also in directing and accrediting a uniquely talented multidisciplinary cleft and craniofacial team in the Detroit, MI area. He has been travelling regularly for two decades to various countries around the world to share knowledge and experience with other surgeons and caregivers for patients' benefit. He remains dedicated to expanding the highest standards of patient care and safety around the world, and especially to communities of people marginalized in various ways.
Jason Chesney, D.O.
Dr. Chesney is a native of Michigan, and is a practicing otolaryngologist. His undergraduate training was completed at the University of Michigan, followed by medical school and residency training through Michigan State University. He completed his training in cleft care and pediatric otolaryngology at the Medical University of South Carolina. He has a strong interest in mission work, with a long history of cleft related surgical work in Peru and the Philippines.
Oscar Ong, C.R.N.A.
Oscar Ong was born in Davao City, Philippines, and began his medical career after graduating from the Brokenshire School of Nursing. After immigrating to metro Detroit, he earned his Master of Science in Nursing Anesthesiology from the University of Detroit Mercy. Oscar served at Providence Hospital from 1983 to 2021, working first as a surgical nurse and later as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. In 2004, he founded Operation Care Abroad (OCA), a nonprofit dedicated to providing life-changing surgical care to children and adults in Davao who otherwise could not afford treatment. Under his leadership, OCA conducted surgical missions for two decades, from 2004 to 2024, improving access to essential care and strengthening communities in need.