MEMBERS & PROFESSIONALS
3rd Annual SOCS Media Day Delivers High-Interest Expert Content!
Advancing patient and public understanding about skin of color issues…
from everyday concerns to life-altering conditions
The Skin of Color Society’s 3rd Annual Media Day took place at the Kitano Hotel Penthouse in New York City, on December 5, 2017, attracting strong interest among numerous media attendees. Entitled, “Know Your Skin,” this exciting expert-based event was designed to advance patient and public understanding about a wide range of skin of color dermatology issues—from everyday aesthetic/dermatologic concerns to life-altering conditions. Expanding on previous successful SOCS Media Days, this fascinating and fast-paced program featured several SOCS expert presenters, with the added new element of a moderator, handled skillfully by Lee Thomas, the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, author of “Turning White” and vitiligo patient leader, who also delivered an inspirational opening talk about his vitiligo journey.
Left: Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD; Nada Elbuluk, MD, MSc, FAAD; Valerie Callender, MD; Maritza Perez, MD; Susan Taylor, MD; Andrew Alexis, MD, MPH
Presenting experts included: Drs. Seemal Desai and Susan C. Taylor, on “Managing Skin of Color Issues from the Inside Out”; Drs. Valerie Callender and Andrew Alexis, on “The Bigger Picture—More than Skin Deep,” and Dr. Maritza Perez, on “Medical wake-up calls in people of color—Truths and myths in ethnic variations in aging and skin cancer in skin of color.” Each presentation was followed by a lively round of Q & A’s from an engaged audience.
SOCS Board of Directors member Dr. Babar Rao and active member Dr. Nada Elbuluk, both of whom have presented at previous SOCS Media Days and regularly handle media inquiries for the organization, also supported the program.
2nd Annual SOCS Media Day Draws Tremendous Interest!
This year’s Media Day, “Delving into Diversity”, was a big hit among a crowd of diverse beauty/ health magazine editors, digital content creators and skin of color bloggers who attended this exciting program at the stylish London Hotel in NYC on December 13, 2016.
As the second Media Day for the Skin of Color Society (SOCS), this year’s event offered a series of interesting and informative presentations by four pairs of SOCS experts on a wide array of relevant topics, followed by a lively round of Q & A’s and then roundtable discussions led by each team with our highly engaged media guests. Several editors requested private interviews with the experts before and after the program as well, in addition to many interviews conducted by editors who were not able to make the event at this bustling time of year.
3/4 of the SOCS Media Day Expert Team—From left: Dr. Andrew Alexis, Dr. Susan Taylor, Dr. Amy McMichael, Dr. Maritza Perez, Dr. Marta Rendon and Dr. Seemal Desai. Other team members Dr. Babar Rao and Dr. Nada Elbuluk, are not pictured. |
Michelle Wrubel of Nutrafol (left) with Valerie Monroe, Beauty Director of O, The Oprah Magazine. |
“From the Scientific to the Sensational in Skin of Color” captured high interest from several national magazine editors and beauty bloggers in a “double-header” event in NYC.
Drs. McMichael & Desai
(L-R) Drs. Babar Rao, Nada Elbuluk, Maritza Perez, Marta Rendon, Amy McMichael, Seemal Desai, and Andrew Alexis
The Skin of Color Society successfully presented its first Media Day, “From the Scientific to the Sensational in Skin of Color,” geared for national magazine editors and beauty bloggers on December 8, 2015 in New York City. This exciting and informative event offered media participants the opportunity to learn about a wide array of hot topics in skin of color dermatology from SOCS experts at a “Hot Topics Breakfast” followed by desksides at magazine offices around Manhattan. The following SOCS members participated: SOCS President Amy McMichael MD; SOCS Immediate Past President Marta Rendon, MD; SOCS Secretary-Treasurer Seemal Desai, MD; SOCS Board Member Babar Rao, MD, Andrew Alexis, MD, MPH; Maritza Perez, MD, and Nada Elbuluk, MD.
Hot Topics Breakfast media guests included editors and writers from: Seventeen Magazine, Beauty in the Bag, Cutis, Cosmetic Dermatology, HAPPI, Brown Girl Gumbo, ChicBusyMom, Skinects V-VI, Plastic Surgery Practice News, among other guests. The event, held at the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel, gave beauty bloggers and editors the opportunity to hear fascinating, content-rich presentations by all three teams, and participate in a lively Q & A that addressed pigmentation and hair disorders, cosmetic issues, skin cancer, micro-needling, and other issues of special concern to skin of color.
After the breakfast event, the expert pairs visited several offices to meet with beauty editors, including the following magazines: Elle, O, The Oprah Magazine, Essence, Good Housekeeping, Parents, American Baby and Parents Latina Magazines, Cosmopolitan, MORE, Latina, along with Skype/telephone interviews with Modern Aesthetics/ Practical Dermatology and Black Enterprise, followed by interviews with the No-Nonsense Beauty Blog.
Drs. Desai, Perez, Elbuluk & McMichael
SOCS experts were paired as follows, covering the following topics:
Team 1: Untangling Myths and Truths about Hair and Skin Disorders in Skin of Color presented by Drs. Amy McMichael and Seemal Desai
Amy McMichael, MD
Professor & Chair, Department of Dermatology, Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Center
Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD
President & Medical Director, Innovative Dermatology / Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern
Team 2: Beautiful, Healthy and Safe! A Close-up on Advances and Key Considerations in Cosmetic Treatments for Skin of Color presented by Drs. Marta Rendon and Babar Rao
Marta I. Rendon, MD
Founder Skin Care Research, Medical Director, Rendon Center for Dermatology / Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Miami School of Medicine
Babar K. Rao, MD
Founder and Director of Raodermatology NY, NJ, CA / Clinical Professor of Dermatology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School / Clinical Associate Professor, Weill Cornell Medical School
These are exciting times in aesthetic, surgical and medical dermatology, as there are many cutting-edge procedures, treatments and products available to help correct, repair, rejuvenate and improve the overall appearance and health of the skin. However, in patients with skin of color, there are inherent risks and complications that must be factored into any treatment plan. Our dermatologic experts, with their highly specialized training in skin of color, anatomy and physiology, will help shed light on the benefits and risks of various cosmetic treatments for dermatologic conditions in darker skin types.
Team 3: Trends, Surprises and Controversies in Skin Cancer and Pigmentary Disorders in Melanin-Rich Skin presented by Drs. Maritza Perez, Nada Elbuluk and Andrew Alexis
Andrew F. Alexis, MD, MPH
Chair, Department of Dermatology, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s & Mount Sinai Roosevelt / Associate Professor of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Maritza Perez, MD
Director of Cosmetic Dermatology, St. Luke’s Roosevelt Medical Center / Associate Director of Procedural Dermatology, Beth Israel Medical Center / Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology, Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine
Nada Elbuluk, MD, MSc, FAAD
Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, NYU Langone Department of Dermatology