Dr Kiran Rahim joins Smile Train UK as newest Ambassador

Dr Kiran Rahim (@DrKiranRahim on Instagram) has joined Smile Train UK as their latest ambassador, a role that aims to educate others on the cleft journey and empower cleft-affected individuals.

As a mother of three and cleft-affected herself, Kiran’s goal is to advocate for and champion cleft-affected individuals and their families in the UK and across the globe.

“Smile Train is a fantastic charity, and because my cleft has had such an impact on my life, I want to work with Smile Train UK to bring about positive change,” says Kiran. “I was born with a cleft, and now have the beautiful opportunity to work with children and families that are affected by clefts. I have a really great social media network where lots of families reach out to me for support, and now I have a really great resource to signpost them to.”

To coincide with Anti-Bullying Week (14-18 November 2022), Kiran wants to use her voice and platform to make society a kinder place.

For her, the bullying was particularly bad during secondary school, where there were a lot of name-calling and hurtful songs sung about the way Kiran looked. She says: “Navigating teenage years as a woman is difficult enough, but being born with a cleft meant that I had added challenges to face, including being bullied a lot.”

To overcome this, Kiran channelled all of her focus and energy into her academics – enabling her to achieve the results she needed to study medicine and become the celebrated NHS paediatric doctor that she is today. But she isn’t stopping there.

Kiran hopes to raise awareness of the unique cleft journey individuals go on – the highs, the lows, the surgeries and aftercare, the support needed – to help break down the stigma and bring cleft care to the forefront. Smile Train UK and Kiran will be bringing you powerful and educational videos and social media content over the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled.

Ian Vallance, Smile Train UK, Director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Kiran to Smile Train UK’s family as our newest Ambassador. Kiran is such an inspiration and we are so excited to share what we’ve been working on together. Her Ambassador role will focus on education and empowerment and she has such a unique insight given her personal connection with cleft and professional background as a Doctor and Paediatrician. What an amazing role model she is!”