Behind every surgical mission Dr. Andrew Jacono leads abroad sits a partnership with an established charity that handles logistics on the ground. The dual board-certified facial plastic surgeon works with Healing the Children, the HUGS Foundation, and THAI Children, organizations that identify patients, arrange facilities, and coordinate the local support his teams need once they arrive.
Those partnerships have helped Dr. Jacono treat more than 750 children in developing regions, addressing cleft lips, cleft palates, microtia, facial tumors, and burn scars during trips to Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, and Vietnam. He typically travels twice a year and brings other surgeons along, extending the number of children each mission can reach.
Domestic Partnerships Serve a Different Population
A similar model shapes his domestic work. Dr. Andrew Jacono serves as senior advisor to the FACE TO FACE project, run by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, which connects him with survivors of domestic violence needing facial reconstruction. Through that partnership, he has performed reconstructive surgery for more than 100 survivors.
His involvement in that cause once reached television screens through Facing Trauma, a series that aired on Discovery Fit & Health and later the Oprah Winfrey Network, and it also led to formal recognition, including a 2006 Good Guy Award from the Center for the Women of New York and a commendation from U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy in the Congressional Record.
Institutional Roles Extend the Reach
Dr. Jacono’s academic appointments at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and North Shore University Hospital, along with his position as Fellowship Director for the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, give these partnerships a path to outlast any single surgeon. Fellows trained under him inherit both the technical skill and the charitable network needed to continue this work, including the mountain climbs he has used to help fund it. Read this article for related information.
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