Pediatric Craniofacial Surgery Match Program Information Sheet

Name of program: El Paso Cleft and Craniofacial Fellowship

Areas of Focus: 

  • Comprehensive Cleft and Craniofacial Surgery

    • Cleft Lip and Palate; Endoscopic and Open Craniosynostosis Correction; Distraction of the Mandible, Midface, and Skull; Vascular Lesions and Pediatric Pathology

Program Director:  David Yates DMD, MD, FACS

Contact email: 

Contact phone number: 

  • Dr David Yates - 321-544-8515

  • Nohemi Solis – 915-833-2969

Program website: www.hdofs.com and www.elpasochildrens.org 

Accreditation Status:  Currently the fellowship is in the process of applying for CODA accreditation.

Enrollment: 1 fellow is enrolled per year

Duration of Fellowship: 1 year but a 2 year option is available if the candidate would prefer it

Required application materials: 

Process for Application:

  • The applicant must call our offices or email Dr Yates directly. 

  • They must first complete a telephone interview with Dr Yates and depending on this interview he/she may or may not be invited to come for a formal interview and submit supporting application documents.

  • Additional application documents include: 

    • 3 letters of recommendation from his residency program or if not recently in a residency (within the last 5 years) should be from work associates and surgeons familiar with the applicants work.

    • Updated Curriculum Vitae

  • During the applicants visit he will be evaluated for his/her ability to interact and relate to teaching staff and administrative staff. 

  • Prior to a decision being made the fellowship director will call former associates/attendings to discuss the fellows overall abilities. 

  • A decision will be made by the Fellowship Program Director approximately 1 year prior to the fellowship start date.

Eligibility requirements: 

Requirements for Admission to Fellowship:

  • Completed a Surgical Residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery either a 4 year or 6 year (MD) track from an accredited OMFS program.

  • The applicant must be board eligible for Oral Maxillofacial Surgery.

  • The applicant must be in good standing with residency attendings or former associates.

Program description: 

On the average week (some weeks will vary):

  • The fellow will operate 3 days, Cleft/Cranio Clinics 1.5 days, and run a sedation/3rd molar clinic 0.5 days per week.

  • When in town you will be on Cleft/Cranio Call at El Paso Children’s Hospital every day, however, at least two Fri/Sat/Sundays every month you will not have any call.

Trauma Call – You will be the trauma attending 1 week out of every 3 as averaged out over the year. 

Vacation x 3 weeks (15 work days) which includes 1 week at the (ACPA Meeting) where the fellow is expected to present his/her results as either a poster or abstract presentation.  Also, this project must be submitted for publication prior to completion of the program.

Fellowship Responsibilities

  1. Attend all Cleft/Craniofacial cases. Conflicts in scheduling will be resolved by Dr. Yates.

  2. Presents Craniofacial/Clinic Cases at Surgical Conference Monthly

  3. Attend all clinics with positional plagiocephaly, craniosynostosis, orthognathic, and cleft lip and palate patients.  

  4. Be present for preoperative and postoperative evaluations of cleft and craniofacial patients. 

  5. Be involved in management and treatment for all surgical and medical complications.

  6. You are responsible for bringing shadow charts, x-rays, CT scans, photographs, distractor devices, models, splints, and appropriate lab work to all cases (They will be collected by our assistants and left with you the day before surgery).

  7. Pre-operative photographs are to be taken on every patient 

  8. You are responsible for rounding on, caring for, and writing notes on all post-operative cleft/craniofacial patients. 

  9. During the post-operative course, you are responsible for updating the appropriate attending(s) with the patient’s progress.

  10. It is the fellow’s responsibility to see all inpatient consults related to cleft, orthognathic, and craniofacial surgery and inform the appropriate attending.  These patients will be monitored with daily progress notes while admitted to the hospital. This is also the appropriate time for patient/family education. Please utilize our written resources.  When consult patients are discharged, please refer the family to the team coordinator Nicole Gonzalez, for an appropriate follow-up appointment in clinic. Also, please bring Nohemi a copy of the face sheet and record at the top a contact phone number for the family.

  11. Attendance at the Annual American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association conference is expected.  The department will pay for this trip. It is expected that you will be able to present research at this conference.