Uniting Dermatological Societies around the World

March 2015
Uniting Dermatological Societies around the World
Prof. Wolfram Sterry
President, ILDS
The International League of Dermatological Societies has existed for more than 100 years. It has
grown from a group of societies that jointly wanted to regularly organize a World Congress of
Dermatology into the body for global representation of dermatology. Today, more than 160
societies are members of the ILDS, which represents more than 100,000 dermatologists
worldwide.
The primary goal of the ILDS is to improve the situation of people suffering from diseases of the
skin. In order to fulfill this mission, every four years the ILDS hosts the World Congress of
Dermatology, the premium global event of continuous medical education. Experts from all fields of
dermatology from around the world share their knowledge and experience with dermatologists
who are working in private practice, hospitals and administrations or in other settings. More than
10,000 dermatologists attend the week-long event to learn, meet their international colleagues
and develop a common sense of how best to treat skin diseases.
The board of the ILDS is elected by the member societies every four years and comprises 18 board
members who represent all geographic areas of the world.
In addition to educational activities, the ILDS is involved in a number of important initiatives that
demonstrate its global responsibility for dermatological issues, such as running the International
Foundation of Dermatology (IFD), which supports projects in various parts of the world. Most
important is supporting the dermatological hospital in Moshe/Tanzania, where the ILDS helps
organize educational programs for regional dermatologists and health workers, with a focus on
education on the medical management of albinos.
Other projects include the development of global guidelines. The first global guideline on the
diagnosis and treatment of actinic keratosis will be published this year (visit the ILDS website for
more on this).
One ILDS committee has revised the glossary for dermatological lesions. This new edition will unify
dermatological terminology worldwide and will be issued around the timing of the next World
Congress this June in Vancouver, Canada.
As other societies and medical-specialties disciplines have already done, the ILDS is working on a
global curriculum for dermatology that can serve national societies as a complete or partial
template. We recognize that it is crucial to unify dermatological practice on a global basis.
In the context of interaction with political bodies such as the WHO, the ILDS has offered its support
in developing the new international classification of diseases (ICD), version ICD11. For the first time,
dermatology has been directly involved in the definition of skin diseases; this new version will be
released in the next two years. Moreover, the ILDS has started to collect data on the most
important skin diseases in different parts of the world, stratified for age and gender, as well as the
economic background of the population. These data will serve to initiate programs in order to
tackle the most challenging problems regarding skin diseases on a global scale; it will also help
convince decision-makers to acknowledge the need of better care for patients with skin diseases.
This important project is titled The Grand Challenges of Global Skin Health.
Being a member of the ILDS and serving the ILDS means serving those who suffer from skin
diseases. With this in mind, we are all looking forward to the upcoming World Congress of
Dermatology.
Editorial Board /
Conseil de rédaction
National editor/
Rédacteur en chef
Charles W. Lynde, MD
Markham, ON
Chief Executive Officer /
Chef de la direction
Chantal Courchesne
Ottawa, ON
Regional editors /
Rédacteurs régionaux
Robert Jackson, MD
Ottawa, ON
Paul Kuzel, MD
Edmonton, AB
Benjamin Barankin, MD
Toronto, ON
Ian Landells, MD
St. John’s, NL
G. Daniel Schachter, MD
Toronto, MD
Marc Bourcier, MD
Moncton, NB
Catherine McCuaig, MD
Montréal, QC
Victoria Taraska, MD
Winnipeg, MB
Nicole Hawkins Scoon, MD
Saskatoon, SK
Kathleen Moses, MD
Ottawa, ON
Catherine Zip, MD
Calgary, AB
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