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Interplast has transformed lives for 40 years! It was the first organization to provide free reconstructive plastic surgery for the poor in developing countries and began at a time when the field of plastic surgery was still evolving.
In the 1960s, it was a new concept that following reconstructive plastic surgery, patients could be reintegrated into society and their dignity could be restored. Plastic Surgery in the 1960s: For decades, war and its injuries had been the motivating forces behind developments in plastic surgery. But in 1960, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Paul Brand made a presentation in New York and showed how he helped thousands of leprosy patients in India by restoring their ability to use their hands again through reconstructive surgery. Dr. Brand’s talk inspired Dr. Robert Chase, who followed Brand back to India to work with him. Not only were Brand’s surgical techniques on the cutting edge, but so were his ideas to rehabilitate those with deformities in order to dispel stigmas, restore their dignity and reintegrate them into society following reconstructive surgery. Dr. Donald Laub and Antonio: Chase embraced Brand’s innovative vision, and in turn passed it on to his mentee, Dr. Donald R. Laub, who would become Interplast’s founder. Laub was further inspired by Antonio, a 13-year-old boy who came to Stanford University Medical Center from his home in Mexicali, Mexico to receive surgery to repair his cleft lip and palate. Antonio was being raised by his grandmother, living apart from his parents and six siblings. He had never attended school, and rarely had opportunities for social interactions. Working with then-plastic surgery residents Dr. Leo Keoshian and Laub, Chase performed the surgeries to repair Antonio’s lip and palate. Upon Antonio’s return to Mexico, he started school and performed very well. Antonio’s success and the meaningful—and almost instantaneous—changes in his life inspired Chase and Laub, who traveled to Mexicali to visit him. There, they were introduced to a seemingly endless lineup of children with disabling deformities and injuries.
After surgery, Antonio was finally permitted to attend school in Mexico and performed very well. His success and the meaningful—and almost instantaneous—changes in his life gave Laub the inspiration to help others through reconstructive plastic surgery. 
Dr. Eric Bachelor and Dr. Donald Laub with Juan, a burn patient from Honduras. Stanford University Roots: Laub became determined to find a means of helping these children. He established a program to provide surgeries regularly at a charity hospital in Mexicali. As the new chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford, he was able to recruit medical volunteers to help. This act of charity was revolutionary for plastic surgery and set in motion the establishment of the first organization to provide free reconstructive surgery in developing countries—Interplast. Interplast Evolves: Interplast began by sending teams of devoted medical volunteers to provide direct service to children in need and to train local doctors so that they could perform the surgeries on their own. As the developing world infrastructure advanced and the Internet enabled more reliable communication, Interplast developed more permanent surgical outreach centers with trusted international partners to ensure year-round access to care where none previously existed. Now 76 percent our surgeries are performed by developing world surgeons with Interplast oversight, training and support; it is our most efficient and cost-effective way to provide life-changing surgery.
Building upon Dr. Brand’s dream, Interplast’s founding vision was to create a world in which no human being suffers physically or emotionally from a repairable congenital deformity or injury. Millions of children continue to be in need of reconstructive plastic surgery, but we have made great strides toward fulfilling that vision over the past 40 years, and are reaching more children than ever before in need of our help. We hope you share in the pride and satisfaction that comes from your role in making that possible.
Read on for More History Details The first Interplast medical teams went to Mexico, but Laub realized that many children in other poor countries needed reconstructive plastic surgery as well. He began organizing surgical volunteer trips to other parts of Latin America, and eventually to Asia and Africa as well. Volunteer teams of medical professionals traveled to sites across the developing world and performing surgeries to change the lives of thousands of children. Interplast also began bringing patients, whose cases were not appropriate for surgery in their native lands, to the United States for surgery. They stayed in the homes of host families, and were operated on by surgical teams who donated their time in hospitals and clinics that donated their equipment and space. Over time, Interplast refined its mission to better empower people around the world. While Interplast continued to provide direct patient care by sending medical volunteers overseas, the practice of bringing patients to the United States was eventually phased out as medical infrastructures in developing countries improved. 
Interplast builds local medical capacity, creating long-term, year-round surgical care where none previously existed. Training doctors in developing countries is a much more sustainable and cost-effective way to affect the lives of thousands of children. Although teaching was always integrated in surgical team trips, training doctors in developing countries became Interplast's focus while still providing direct patient care through visiting teams of medical volunteers. Interplast thus began the Visiting Educator Program, which enables medical experts to travel to developing countries and provide knowledge, training and experience to developing world doctors and nurses who then help their fellow citizens. Interplast’s Medical Scholars Program also was developed to bring foreign doctors and other medical professionals to the United States for multi-month training fellowships. Empowerment History As the developing world infrastructure advanced and the Internet enabled more reliable communication, Interplast began building local medical capacity, creating long-term, year-round surgical care where none previously existed. In the late 1990s, the Interplast board and staff realized that the only viable and sustainable way to fulfill our vision, of a world where no one suffers from a repairable deformity or injury, was to empower medical communities in the Global South to provide year-round access. (Stanford’s Graduate School of Business did a case study on our evolution.) A visiting volunteer surgical team can address approximately 75 patients during a two-week visit. However, many factors can prevent a child from receiving care on a team trip. For example, if a patient has a cold, s/he will not be able to have anesthesia and thus cannot have surgery. Other challenges for families include transport, agricultural cycles, getting off of work and the demands of child care; these can all have a negative impact on prospective patients getting access to surgery in a two-week window. In 1999, Interplast established the incubator model in Nepal, which rapidly grew into the model for Interplast’s current Surgical Outreach Centers. Dr. Shankar Man Rai, the organization’s partner in Nepal, assembled a local team of medical professionals to provide free surgical care, speech therapy and other medical services year-round in Kathmandu and rural Nepal. In its first three years, the Surgical Outreach Center in Nepal treated more than 3,000 patients, more than 10 times the number than could have been treated through volunteer direct service trips to that location. It demonstrated that Interplast could dramatically expand access by directing more resources and support to locally managed programs. Interplast developed more permanent surgical outreach centers with trusted international partners like Dr. Rai to ensure year-round access to care where none previously existed. Now 76 percent our surgeries are performed by developing world surgeons (with Interplast oversight, training and support) at 11 sites in nine countries.
Impact of Empowerment Evolution Surgical Outreach Centers are our most efficient, sustainable and cost-effective way to provide life-changing surgery. In just the last five years, they have enabled us to double the number of surgeries we perform annually, but with only a 26 percent increase in spending. Interplast is now able to reach more patients than ever before and provide them the safe, high-quality care they need to restore their lives to their greatest potential.
Other Interplasts Around the world, other groups formed, inspired by Laub’s vision. Although many share the name Interplast, such as Interplast Australia, there is no formal connection. Interplast in the United States is an entirely separate legal entity and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, with its own distinct board of directors and management; it has no authority over, accountability for or responsibility for the Interplasts in other countries. |
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