Dr. D’Antonio has a career-long commitment to interdisciplinary treatment of children with cleft lip and palate and other craniofacial anomalies.  In addition to her own clinical speech pathology service, she has served on several cleft palate-craniofacial teams within the United States and has acted as consultant to many teams and centers around the world.  She is a member of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association and has served on numerous committees and held elected offices within that organization.   She has presented at numerous national and international meetings concentrating on the evaluation and management of speech disorders associated with cleft lip/palate and the development of interdisciplinary cleft care.  Her specialized area of clinical and research expertise has been the evaluation and management of velopharyngeal function.

In addition to Dr. D’Antonio’s clinical and research expertise she has extensive experience in promoting and establishing a variety of services for individuals with cleft lip and palate in developing countries especially India, China and sub-Saharan Africa.   As director of the Loma Linda University Plastic Surgery Program, Operation Good Samaritan from 2000-2007, Dr. D’Antonio organized many international outreach projects aimed at training local surgeons and inspiring U.S. based plastic surgery residents to a long term commitment to international service.

Dr. D’Antonio was one of the initial members of  the Medical Advisory Board for The Smile Train, a non-profit organization committed to promoting cleft care for children around the world.  She served on the board from 2000 to 2012.  In her work with The Smile Train, Dr. D’Antonio organized and carried out numerous programs for training individuals to provide interdisciplinary care for children with cleft palate worldwide.  In 2006 and 2007 she was the organizer of the Pan African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate and the Pan African Consensus Conference on Increasing Cleft Care in Africa.

In response to some of her experiences in developing countries, Dr. D’Antonio trained as a professional facilitator.  She has used these skills to further her international work in cleft care and in particular to bring about creative solutions for increasing cleft care in Africa and for establishing speech services in regions of the world where there are few or no speech pathologists.  She has organized and carried out numerous programs for training individuals and developing materials to provide speech therapy services for children with cleft palate worldwide.