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
