Craig W. Senders, professor of otolaryngology at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center, received the 1998 Distinguished Public Service Award today from his colleagues at the University of California, Davis. The annual award, including a $1,000 honorarium, was presented to Dr. Senders by the Representative Assembly of the Academic Senate, the governing body of UC Davis professors. Established in 1990, the award program recognizes up to four faculty members who have made distinguished public-service contributions to the community, state, nation and world throughout their academic careers. A specialist in head and neck surgery in children, Senders is recognized for his volunteer work treating children with facial deformities caused by birth defects or trauma. His service began with an interest in treating children with cleft lip and cleft palate in medically underserved communities in Sacramento and has expanded over the years to include children in impoverished communities in Russia, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Honduras. Through the UC Davis Cleft and Craniofacial program, Senders provides medical treatment and psychological support to children and their families. He also has established Dream Builders, a UC Regents Foundation that raises funds to improve the care of children in the program. Since its inception in 1996, Dream Builders has raised $30,000. The Children's Miracle Network also supports education endeavors, provides funding for research and equipment, and funds social and psychological outreach to families. Senders' international outreach efforts began in 1990 as one of the organizers of the American Academy of Facial and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery's Face-to-Face program. The program offers surgical treatment to children in third world countries and trains local physicians to deliver these much-needed services for future generations. Senders was instrumental in mobilizing physicians nationwide to participate in Face-to-Face, and today, this program has expanded to include more than 200 facial plastic surgeons who also donate their expertise in the United States, offering free surgical care to victims of domestic violence. Surgically correcting facial deformities has a tremendous impact on the quality of life for children, both physically and psychologically. In Ekaterinburg, Russia, for example, children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip are often abandoned unless they are treated. Between 1990-96, Face-to-Face medical teams have made five trips to Ekaterinburg, training over 100 physicians in the operating room and in seminars. Up to 80 percent of children treated through this program return to their families. Senders typically takes one to two trips a year and also works with other volunteer medical groups such as the Mercy Ships Surgical Outreach program and the Medical, Eye & Dental International Care Organization Inc. He has received national recognition for his commitment to children, expertise in surgical technique and dedication to training physicians. In 1997 he was awarded the Jerome C. Goldstein, M.D., Public Service Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and the Community Service Award from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He has served as voting director of the California Coalition of Craniofacial and Cleft Teams since 1988 and is a representative to the California Medical Association's Legislative Commission, which evaluates the impact of state legislative bills on the association and its members. He also holds leadership positions in several other national medical organizations and committees that have defined craniofacial surgical standards and led outreach efforts to communities in need of specialized surgical care. These include the Society for Ear, Nose and Throat Advances in Children, American Cleft Lip and Craniofacial Association, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, Harvard University School of Public Health's Resource-Based Relative Value Scale Study, and American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. His research interests include mid-face development and malformations, response of the airway to trauma, and surgical manipulation and laryngeal development.