Operation Smile receives 10 Telly Awards for documentary storytelling in Vietnam. May 28, 2026 DCBN News, Syndication Comments Off on OPERATION SMILE RECEIVES 10 TELLY AWARDS FOR DOCUMENTARY STORYTELLING IN VIETNAM. Nonprofit's Filmmakers Honored with 3 Gold, 5 Silver, and 2 Bronze Awards at the 47th Annual Telly Awards VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Operation Smile today announced it has received 10 Telly Awards for a series of documentary pieces created in Vietnam, earning...

Beyond surgery: answering "why" Through global cleft research. Operation Smile is collaborating with the International Family Study to help understand the tougher questions about cleft conditions. Born with a cleft lip, Dayana from Petén, Guatemala always had two questions on her mind: "When am I going to get surgery?" and "Why was I born with a cleft condition?" And for 11 years, Dayana's mom, Eluvia, didn't have the answers. Finally, the first question was answered after a long-awaited cleft surgery was scheduled through Operation Smile Guatemala. While surgery transformed Dayana's smile and gave her a new chance at a more confident life, the second question was still unanswered. Ever since Operation Smile's inception in 1982, families have sought to understand the causes of cleft conditions. Health care providers have always heard the great "Why" question. That is the reason Operation Smile helps conduct research that answers the questions that surgery alone cannot: Why do cleft conditions happen? How can they be prevented? And how can Operation Smile make care safer and more effective for families around the world? Research rooted in diverse lived realities. "Operation Smile sees more patients with cleft conditions globally than any research institution or individual hospital ever will," notes Allyn Auslander Decoteau, Ph.D., MPH, Associate Vice President of Research at Operation Smile. "If we don't help to tackle this question, it is unlikely high-income institutions alone will ever fully understand what causes cleft to develop." Operation Smile supports holistic research on cleft conditions that factor in the life experiences of people in all types of environments. Historically, studies on the causes of cleft conditions have focused largely on high-income countries, not accurately reflecting the lived realities for people in low- and middle-income countries. For instance, smoking cigarettes is a well-documented risk factor for cleft conditions. But many families in the countries Operation Smile serve cannot afford cigarettes. Instead, they may face other risks tied to daily life, such as indoor cooking smoke, air pollution or limited access to nutrition. And understanding these differences matters. A powerful partnership in global research. To serve families from all around the world, Operation Smile has collaborated to conduct research with its partners at the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles: the International Family Study (IFS). This partnership began in 2011 to create a database that is more representative of the global population and to combine the impacts of care and science so that fewer children would require surgery in the future. Operation Smile collects information from maternal and paternal questionnaires and obtains saliva samples voluntarily provided by patients, their families and control groups. This is then sent to IFS who analyze genetic data from learning about families' environments and daily lives and from the saliva samples, aiding researchers to identify patterns that help explain why cleft conditions occur. "Without innovative partnerships like this - between an NGO that sees thousands of patients with cleft conditions each year and a world-class research institution - work at this scale would be impossible. It is through working together that we have a chance at answering this most important question," Decoteau adds. The study in collaboration with IFS has been conducted in nine countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Honduras, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Vietnam - representing low- and middle-income communities of those populations and including over 8,000 families. "This is the largest cleft study in low- and middle-income countries being done." says Gretchen Schulz, Project Manager of the International Family Study. From research to real life. Operation Smile's Global Surgery Fellows utilize the analyses and research, as do educational institutions and researchers across the U.S. and in other countries. The data has been used to complete exome sequencing on data from Madagascar, to write a paper discussing agricultural chemical exposures and to research how cleft occurs during embryonic development and more. "All research, all of our publications, are open access," Schulz shares. "We want to provide this data, especially in areas where this knowledge is difficult to come by." While the analysis is ongoing, the team has already begun to identify trends that may help families in low- and middle-income countries. "We are trying to understand everything we possibly can in terms of risk," Schulz says. "For example, cook smoke increases the risk of having a child with cleft up to 50% in these countries." An additional analysis shows that some risk factors are found outside of the home. For example, in a 2023 study, research from South Africa has shown that exposure to air pollution while in utero can increase the risk of a cleft condition. Research suggests that the healthy development of a baby can be affected by genetics, family history, pre-existing medical conditions, poor nutrition and exposure to harmful environmental substances. Through IFS, Operation Smile hopes to build a deeper understanding and highlight possible avenues for solutions. "I believe one day, we will be able to prevent a portion of clefts from ever developing," Decoteau shares. "Through IFS, we will make sure that our patients' communities are not left behind." Towards a more hopeful future. While Dayana from Guatemala may never receive a single, simple answer for why she was born with a cleft condition, her story is helping fuel something even more powerful: a hopeful future where families have a stronger understanding and fewer questions about cleft conditions. Through global research like Operation Smile and IFS, the lived experiences of families like Dayana's are shaping how Operation Smile understand cleft conditions and are opening the doors to prevention.

Johnson & Johnson marks $100 million of MedTech products donated since 2020 to help people live, see and smile. Builds on longstanding efforts by Johnson & Johnson and the J&J Foundation to champion and support health workers Johnson & Johnson, with support from the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Foundation, announced that it has donated $100 million of MedTech products since 2020 to help more people around the world access the specialized care they need to live, see and smile. The Company has also planned to contribute an additional $20 million toward programs and impact investments that empower health workers to deliver cardiac, vision and surgical care in their communities in 2026. These new funds are part of J&J CareCommunity, a social impact platform that focuses the work of Johnson & Johnson and the J&J Foundation to champion health workers and advance access to quality care. Alongside partners like Lions Clubs International Foundation, Operation Smile and the American Heart Association, J&J CareCommunity is helping improve the lives of health workers and patients alike. "With these efforts, we're accelerating the work of J&J CareCommunity, partnering with global and local organizations to deliver new tools, training and sustained support that frontline care teams need to expand access to specialized care," said Tim Schmid, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Chairman of MedTech at Johnson & Johnson. "As a leader in medical technology, we know that delivering specialized care doesn't just help people. It also fuels healthier communities, stronger economies and lasting change." Gaps in access to specialized care are caused in part by shortages of skilled surgical and health workers and a lack of technologies and infrastructure, which strain providers and health systems in under-resourced communities. Johnson & Johnson is helping close these gaps by providing medical tools and technologies to equip health workers to deliver specialized care, which includes restoring circulation, healing wounds, helping people see clearly again and other life-changing care. The Company and the J&J Foundation are also working with partners to build programs that train and support health workers involved in this care. Each year, these efforts reach over 300,000 healthcare professionals, to enable the uptake of tools and technologies that make safe surgical care possible. "Safe surgery gives children the chance to breathe freely, speak clearly, and move through life with confidence," said Kristie Magee Porcaro, Chief Strategy Officer, Operation Smile. "Yet too many still lack access to these essential procedures. By strengthening health systems and equipping local health workers and leaders, we help bring life-changing care closer to home, fostering resilient communities and creating a future full of possibilities." Through J&J CareCommunity, the Company and the J&J Foundation are working with several global partners to reach more people, now and in the future, including: * American Heart Association: Johnson & Johnson, in collaboration with the American Heart Association, is expanding access to CPR trainings for employees and communities, including a new hands-only CPR training kiosk at the Museum of Science in Boston, an innovative, interactive way for everyday people to practice lifesaving skills. * Global Surgery Foundation: Johnson & Johnson, with support from the J&J Foundation, is collaborating with the Global Surgery Foundation to support surgical teams as a founding partner of the UN Global Surgery Learning Hub (SURGhub), and through a $1 million commitment to SURGfund to scale surgical systems in low- and middle-income countries. * International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB): Johnson & Johnson and the J&J Foundation are working with IAPB to elevate eye health on national agendas and strengthen health systems to accelerate progress toward the shared goal of ending preventable blindness by 2030. * MAP (Medicine for All People): Through a longstanding collaboration with MAP, Johnson & Johnson is donating products, including sutures, intraocular lenses, bladder sounds, fistula scissors and catheter organizers, to equip health workers with the tools to deliver safe surgery in communities globally. * Operation Smile: For over 35 years, Johnson & Johnson and the J&J Foundation has partnered with Operation Smile to expand access to safe surgery. What began with providing sutures has grown into a partnership that brings care and new smiles within reach, while equipping nurses with leadership and skills trainings, creating lasting change in local communities. * SEE International: Johnson & Johnson and the J&J Foundation are supporting SEE International to help medical teams and volunteers bring free sight-restoring surgeries to people living with cataracts. * Sight For Kids: In 2002, we teamed up with Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) to launch Sight For Kids (SFK), a program that connects children in low-income schools with comprehensive eye health screenings and care at no cost. SFK, with support from the J&J Foundation, has reached more than 55 million students around the world. Now the program is training community health workers to reach more communities. Johnson & Johnson's Commitment to the Global Health Workforce As healthcare advances, we believe in supporting those who shape it - healthcare professionals. J&J CareCommunity is a global social impact platform from Johnson & Johnson to advance access to quality care through championing nurses and community health workers. By collaborating with those closest to the challenge, we can connect more people to care. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/j-j-care-community. At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more about our MedTech sector's global scale and deep expertise in cardiovascular, orthopaedics, surgery and vision solutions at https://thenext.jnjmedtech.com. Follow us at @JNJMedTech and on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260127404738/en/