City doctor to head World Scientific Meet

CHENNAI: Chennai-based facio maxillary surgeon, Dr S M Balaji, has been appointed as president of the seventh world biennial international cleft lip and palate Congress to be organised at Seychelles from May 7 to 11, 2012.This is the first time, a doctor from India or even a developing nation has been asked to head the Congress, whose focus will be providing training in utilisation of cutting edge technologies from the field of tissue engineering and genetic research for improvising treatment modalities in cleft repair in developing countries.Dr Balaji was appointed as president by the trustees of the International Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation at a meeting held at San Francisco, on June 10. Being authorised to form his own organising team, the secretariat for the international congress comes to the Chennai-based Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital.  Seychelles has been chosen as the venue with a view to encouraging more delegates from developing and African regions to join the mainstream science and research.