Meet The Clinicians in the Field: Roman Khonsari

As part of Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness and Prevention Month, we are delighted to introduce Roman Khonsari, one of ERN CRANIO’s dedicated clinicians, whose expertise and commitment help improve the care and quality of life of patients with cleft and craniofacial conditions across Europe.

“I am a craniofacial surgeon working in a specialized pediatric university hospital. I also lead a research team on head and neck malformation and teach at the medical faculty.

Roman’s interest in research and innovation have inspired him to work in this field.

The example of my mentors and the strong links with research and innovation, as we are still very far from understanding craniofacial malformations and treat them with maximum efficience.

We have done tremendous progresses in the quality of care in the last 15 years but there is still a lot to come, specially regarding individualized medicine and medical approaches to congenital conditions.

Over the years, working alongside patients and their families has provided Roman with valuable insights and important lessons.

“The story of every child is a life lesson. The most important teaching from working with patients with rare diseases is that I owe them to dedicate my energy to improve our treatment plans, as on their site, they trust me to make their life better.”

Working in the field of rare diseases has shown Roman the importance of cross-border collaboration.

“The ERNs are unique environment where we meet with health professionals and patient representative to discuss how we organise our rare disease centers, not only by discussing techniques or science, but also hospital logistics, management of human resources, data management, and other practical but very important issues.”