The ITSCC Biennial Retreat will be back in
Essex, MA
and is scheduled for
September 19 - 22, 2024.
Submit your abstract here: https://forms.gle/Hw9NnGSivoZ3JLzA8
Abstracts must be submitted by April 30, 2024.
Please note that you must submit an abstract to be offered registration to the meeting. To create an environment of collegial scientific exchange, all prospective registrants are asked to submit an abstract. Links to register will be sent to those who have an accepted abstract in late May/early June.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Dr. Melodi Whitley at melodi.whitley@duke.edu.
Please join us for our in-person annual meeting in San Diego on March 7, 2024 from 5:30-10 p.m. at The Lane in association with the AAD annual meeting.
Thursday, March 7, 2024 | 5:30-10:00 p.m.
The Lane (located in the Residence Inn by Marriott)
900 Bayfront Court
San Diego, CA 92101
Directions to The Lane and the meeting agenda can be viewed on the 2024 Annual Meeting webpage.
Dear ITSCC Members,
I hope everyone had a fantastic summer! We welcome the fall with its routine, cooler temps, and numerous conferences. I want to bring our members the updates from ITSCC happenings throughout the year and for the months ahead.
Our 2023 annual meeting was a terrific success as we enjoyed learning of the ITSCC origin narrative from emeritus member and co-founder, Dr. Clark Otley. In lieu of tumor board presentations, we shifted to a “How We Do It” format for presentations, which garnered great feedback and we plan to continue in future meetings, for now. I want to sincerely thank, ITSCC Vice President, Dr. Anokhi Jambusaria-Pahlajani, for her outstanding dedication coordinating the scientific session, venue, sponsors and more.
The annual meeting is often the ‘time’ many members find the opportunity to renew their membership. If you have not renewed your membership for 2023, please visit https://www.itscc.org/physicians/membership-information. Please consider ITSCC as part of your annual charitable giving by visiting https://www.itscc.org/about-itscc/donate-to-itscc.
We have launched and accepted our first cohort of the ITSCC Academic Mentorship Program (IAMP). Congratulations to our mentees/mentors: Lauren Crow / Nathalie Zeitouni, Basia Michalski / Manisha Loss, and Kelsey Hirotsu / Bryan Carroll. This two-year formal mentorship program will accept two applicants each year aligning with our annual meeting and with funding for participation for in-person mentorship as well as registration for the ITSCC biennial symposium.
Our ITSCC social media presence is growing! We have been working to create both patient-focused messaging, physician-level content, and partnership with related immunosuppression and transplant groups to educate our followers and increase awareness for skin cancer development in high-risk groups. A huge and sincere thank you to Ranya Guennoun and Basia Michalski for leading our social media content creation, editing, and posting. If you haven’t followed us yet, please check us out @itscc_org (IG), @International Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative (FB), @ITSCC_Org (X/Twitter). We are looking for a formal, year-long commitment from a new creator for our ITSCC social media content, starting in the new year. More information on this position will be communicated via the ITSCC list-serve.
Future relevant ITSCC meetings and ancillary sessions:
To our members, thank you for the daily dedication to our most vulnerable patients. You continue to inspire me by your exceptional care for our immunosuppressed population. ITSCC is with you, always.
Sincerely,
Justin J. Leitenberger, MD
ITSCC President (2022-24)
jITSCC Academic Mentorship Program
The International Immunosuppression & Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative (ITSCC) Academic Mentorship Program (IAMP) is designed to connect junior members of ITSCC early in their academic careers with established, senior members to build relationships and assist in career development. This is a 2-year mentorship program that will run from the ITSCC annual meeting (March) of the year the program starts to the annual meeting of the program end.
Please see the links below for application and program details.
Mentee Information and Application
Mentor Information and Application
Dear ITSCC Members,
I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the fall season ahead of the expectant winter and holiday rush. The return to in-person conferences has brought renewed opportunities to reconnect with friends and colleagues and has been a welcome return to ‘normal’ in our professional lives.
ITSCC Retreat / Symposium
The 2022 Biennial International Immunosuppressed and Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative Symposium was held last month in Essex, MA after a 4-year hiatus. We welcomed a full house of ITSCC and SCOPE members, highlighted by our keynote speaker from Oxford, Matthew Bottomley, BM BCh, MA (Oxon), D.Phil, MRCP (UK), a nephrologist and physician scientist specializing in immune-aging and identifying biomarkers of immune suppression that predict risk for skin cancer development.
Emily Ruiz, MD, MPH, brought the social activities to new heights, including a Salem witch-tour, Halloween costume party, pumpkin carving contest, and trivia competition.
Bryan Carroll, MD, PhD, and Melissa Pugliano-Mauro, MD, created an incredible scientific abstract program highlighted by 24 member presentations and several workshop breakout sessions, which continue to advance the scientific and educational missions of ITSCC.
Junior ITSCC Mentorship Program
A new initiative for ITSCC, we have developed a formal program to provide mentorship opportunities for younger members or trainees who may not have access to a transplant skin cancer specialist at their residency program. Junior ITSCC members (trainees in their terminal year of dermatology training, dermatology faculty less than 5 years from completion of their training) are eligible to apply. This 2-year mentorship program aims to support and grow transplant dermatologists, aid junior ITSCC members in creating/running/staffing a transplant dermatology clinic, and promote transplant scholarship. Mentees can apply with a mentoring relationship planned, or be matched with a mentor through the program. More information will be available soon on itscc.org. Applications for the mentorship program are due January 4, 2023 and award announcements will be made at the annual meeting on March 16th, 2023.
Social Media Outreach
Our social media chair, Basia Michalski, MD, is working to develop content to reach members, physicians, and patients via these channels. Please be on the look out for posts highlighting research and clinical updates, patient engagement, and ITSCC events. Please follow us on Facebook @International Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative, Instagram @itscc_org and Twitter @ITSCC_Org.
ITSCC Annual Meeting
Please join us for our in-person annual meeting in New Orleans on March 16th, 2023 at 6:30 PM at Mardi Gras World in association with the AAD annual meeting. The agenda will feature our Oscar Colegio Memorial Lecturer, Dr. Clark Otley, as well as presentations from our expert members describing, “How we do it” for challenging clinical scenarios frequently encountered in our immunosuppressed patients.
Justin J. Leitenberger, M.D.
ITSCC President
It is with deep sadness that I write about the loss of one of the founders of ITSCC. Stu Salasche passed away at home last Thursday after a brief illness. The news came from Els Duviganeau, his partner for the last 14 years, and I have no other details at this time. I’m sure there will be tributes to Stu regarding his career in many venues as he was instrumental in the growth and development of Mohs Surgery and Dermatologic Surgery. For those of you who have memories of Stu, Ida Orengo and Tracy Thomas are collecting recollections in order to compile a memorial. Please send any thoughts and remembrances to Tracy Thomas at tltderm@gmail.com and feel free to share them on the listserv. Many of you did not have the opportunity to know Stu as he retired about 15 years ago and after retirement pursued interests outside of Medicine and Dermatology. It is not an exaggeration to say that there would not be an ITSCC in its present form if not for Stu. Stu played an instrumental role in organizing ITSCC, but an even greater role in finding the funding necessary to launch and sustain the organization. He also arranged for EDI to provide essential organizational support. He had the vision to see the need transplant patients have for dermatologic care and that caring for these patients would advance our understanding of the care of all patients with cutaneous malignancies. Stu was a warm and caring individual who trained many dermatologic surgeons in his fellowship programs and through courses at meetings while mentoring many more and providing others with that simple encouragement or introduction that helped advance their career. He will be greatly missed.
Tom
Thomas Stasko, MD
October 20-23, 2022 at the Essex Woods
The biennial ITSCC Symposium is on and returns to Essex, Massachusetts October 20-23rd, 2022. We are currently accepting abstracts for scientific and case presentations. For early career participants who are less than 5 years from completion of their training, interesting or challenging case presentations may be submitted in lieu of an abstract. The deadline for submission is June 30th, 2022. Please submit to Mary Riordan at mriordan@itscc.org.
Thursday, March 17, 2023 in New Orleans, LA
Dear ITSCC colleagues,
As summer begins and the academic year comes to a close, I hope you are all excited about the coming months ahead. While the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, we have had a glimpse of normalcy with the return of in-person professional conferences. At our annual meeting in Boston in March, we had close to 100 attendees and a terrific scientific program chaired by Dr. Emily Ruiz and headlined by the keynote address from Dr. Kevin Emerick, an Otolaryngologist from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital.
Highlights:
Website: Our intrepid and marvelous past-president, Dr. Sarah Arron, has continued her years-long efforts to update our website with the help of Dr. Thuzar Shin and many ITSCC volunteers. Please visit www.itscc.org to see our newly launched platform, access member and patient materials, view instructions on how to use the listserv, and get the latest information on upcoming events.
Symposium: The biennial ITSCC Symposium is on and returns to Essex, Massachusetts October 20-23rd, 2022. We are currently accepting abstracts for scientific and case presentations. For early career participants who are less than 5 years from completion of their training, interesting or challenging case presentations may be submitted in lieu of an abstract. The deadline for submission is June 30th, 2022. Please submit to Mary Riordan at mriordan@itscc.org. More information can be found on the website. We look forward to a fantastic symposium this fall!
Membership: The return of in-person meetings offers more opportunities for our members. As such, we are asking former members to renew their membership which may have lapsed during COVID-19. You may be receiving an email request to renew, if you haven't already. Thank you and please consider renewing as it helps us plan for our future. Emeritus memberships without an annual membership fee will be considered by the board on a case-by-case basis for former members who have fully retired. If you qualify for emeritus status, please email mriordan@itscc.org and your membership will be discussed at our next board meeting.
Annual Meeting: We are already planning a spectacular program for our annual meeting in New Orleans at next year's AAD. The event is scheduled for the evening of Thursday March 16th, 2023, more details TBD. Please save the date!
Sincerely,
Justin Leitenberger (President, 2022-24)
