Dr. Austin Gaal is an alumnus of and a clinical assistant professor in the UW Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) residency program, and is now earning a Master of Public Health (MPH) as a student in the Online MPH program. During his residency he developed a defined passion for working with kids and adults with cleft lip and palate, so he pursued fellowship training in surgical cleft care, eventually returning to Seattle to establish his practice. He now helps lead the Central Washington Cleft Palate team, the Yakima Cleft Lip and Palate team, and he has a busy, well-rounded practice in OMS, with a special focus on helping kids and adults with cleft and craniofacial differences.
Becoming a certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon takes a substantial amount of time, energy and dedication. Trainees in the UW OMS residency program rarely have extra time to devote to activities outside of their practice, which is why it’s all the more impressive that residents are lining up to follow Dr. Austin Gaal on his outreach trips to Bolivia, and beyond, to treat children with cleft lip and palate.
More prevalent in developing countries, cleft lip and cleft palate are congenital conditions that occur when the structures of a baby’s upper lip or palate fail to join together during pregnancy. The surgeries to fix cleft lip and palate not only involve very specific and complex training, but also require coordinated timing and multi-disciplinary involvement.
In the country of Bolivia, socio-economic struggles have lead to widespread lack of medical resources and training, furthering the difficulties of cleft treatment. “Imagine that lifestyle, the lack of communication from nasal to oral, and just all those food and breathing difficulties,” said Dr. Gaal. “To be able to vastly improve [Bolivian children’s] quality of life, including some kids who have had multiple failed attempts to fix their palate, and really make a difference for them is very, very meaningful.”
After realizing that there were opportunities to be more involved in the training of the OMS residents and expand cleft care, Dr. Gaal joined UW as full-time faculty in March 2023, and now works closely with all resident levels. “I don’t have a class or a blackboard,” said Dr. Gaal. “I scrub in with [residents] and teach them one-on-one.”