Meet The Clinicians in the Field: Marc Mureau

This Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month, get to know Marc Mureau, an ERN CRANIO clinician whose work contributes to advancing multidisciplinary care for children with (congenital) facial palsy.

“I am a plastic surgeon since 2005 specializing in reconstructive microsurgery, which is important for the treatment of children with (congenital) facial palsy, because most reconstructive techniques involve microsurgery to be able to perform a dynamic smile reanimation.”

For Marc, the appeal of working in this field lies in the ability to combine highly specialized surgical expertise with meaningful improvements in patients’ daily functioning and quality of life.

“ The specialization in plastic and reconstructive surgery has given me powerful surgical tools to treat patients with complex congenital and acquired conditions, usually as a result of cancer treatments, aiming to restore form and function with the ultimate aim to optimize quality of life of these patients. It is very rewarding to be able to minimize consequences of cancer treatments and reconstruct congenital malformations and see what positive impact this has on their daily function and quality of life.”

Throughout his career, Marc has gained valuable insights from working closely with patients and their families.

“I have learnt to better communicate and set realistic treatment goals and expectations.

Beyond the important surgical aspects of his work, Marc is keen to highlight the importance of multidisciplinary care and cross-border collaboration

“People should know these conditions are treated in multidisciplinary centers of expertise, usually affiliated to an ERN, and no matter how complex the condition may be, we usually are able to improve function, form and quality of life of these patients.”

“We are dealing with very rare conditions and by joining forces in clinical practice, knowledge, teaching, and research we are better able to treat these patients and stimulate faster improvement of the quality of care for these patients.”