FACIAL RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY DR DANIEL CATALDO

Professor Dr Daniel Cataldo is a renowned specialist surgeon in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic medical procedures who has devoted most of his professional life to humanitarian missions.

Dr Cataldo is a founding member of ‘Operation Sorriso-Servant’ also known as ‘Operation Smile’ created by Professor Jean Marie Servant in 1996. Working in collaboration with Saint Louis Hospital and Médecins du Monde and operating principally at National Niamey Hospital in Niger, the team performed life changing facial reconstructive surgery on infants, children and adults afflicted with Noma disease, birth defects, cancer, and severe facial burns.

In the early 1990s, Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Cuomo were introduced to Dr. Cataldo and Professor Servant. As private donors, they assisted in financing and raising extra funds to support Operation Servant’s early initial actions. The “Special Luigi Frateschi Support” campaign, which was carried out at the National Hospital of Niamey in Niger and gave “a new smile” to 40 young patients, was sponsored by the Cuomo Foundation in 2010.

In 2014, at a prestigious ceremony held at the Aula Magna, Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aries, the Argentine Medical Association awarded Dr Cataldo, the title “Doctor of the Year“. This outstanding academic honour was international recognition of Dr Cataldo’s ‘commitment to welfare, exemplary vocation, and academic reputation’.

In 2022, to promote Dr Cataldo’s vital work, the Cuomo Foundation agreed to fund the recent global distribution of limited printed special edition copies of Dr Cataldo’s “Facial Reconstructive Surgery” to prestigious medical institutions and universities throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Amount awarded in 2022

€ 22,550

“Ten years ago, I started writing this book, the only one in the medical literature worldwide. The aims are to find donors to help cover the cost of this enterprise (printing and distribution), fund further research into the disease and recruit new humanitarian missions around the world.”

Dr Daniel Cataldo