Ear Community presents at the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Annual Meeting in Boston

Advocates Melissa Tumblin, Amy Schefer, Dina Zuckerberg, Marly Eugenio and Melissa McGowan present at the Annual ACPA Meeting in Boston during March 2026.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have attended and participated in the American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association (ACPA) Meeting that was held in Boston last week! Each time I attend this annual meeting, I feel as though it is a second home for me, coming together with existing friends in the craniofacial field and making new friends each time.

While at the ACPA meeting, I had the opportunity to present along side four incredible advocates, sharing about our journey, what we have learned, struggled with and overcome, including the work we are doing to help give back to the community. What an honor it was to present along side these following incredible women advocates: Amy Schefer, Dina Zuckerberg, Marly Eugenio and Melissa McGowen! Each one of us is dedicated to creating change in our communities that will help make things easier for the next family that has a child born with a rare cause. A special thank you to Amy Schefer for submitting our abstract for our panel presenation so each one of our voices could be heard for the communities we serve! Thank you to the ACPA for spotlighting our panel in the captured moments of this year’s meeting and for creating a platform for medical professionals and advocates to share their voices, together! Thank you for everyone’s advocacy!

At ACPA, I embraced connecting with the Vanderbilt team I have worked with over the years with microtia and atresia. I am always happy to see members of our CARE Research team who have worked very hard on collaborative research for our microtia and atresia community over the past five years together. It is always wonderful to see Ear Community friends from Nemours Children’s, Seattle Children’s, Nationwide Kids, and Old Dominion U and of course everyone at the ACPA! THANK YOU to the ACPA for creating a much needed platform and a place for collaboration where medical professionals and advocates can come together to share our voices and work! Thank you for everyone’s advocacy!

It is always wonderful to be brought together throughout the craniofacial world as an advocate! Advocates come in all shapes and sizes and what we offer is often priceless!

I always look forward to seeing the incredible advocates in our community that include patients themselves as well as some pretty incredible organizations that help those in need, creating a home for so many! Whether it is a mother’s love for her child or a child who has overcome struggles along their journey, but is now advocating for others just like them – we all have a common goal of providing help, support, community and compassion that will ultimately lead to helping make someone else’s life easier or sharing the journey of hope and learning from each other.

Here’s to the advocates at ACPA and in the combined communities who make incredible change and provide the hope and help when in need! Advocates also include medical professionals and representatives who help market medical technology that can help make our lives better and along side researchers, writers and volunteers. Thank you for everyone’s advocacy – always! Thank you to the ACPA for always creating such a professional meeting for the craniofacial field and community! Executive Director Adam Levy always does such a great job for the ACPA!

The following are just some of the many friends and faces that I always appreciate seeing at meetings like ACPA! Choose kind!