Due to COVID-19, the 16th Annual Skin of Color Society Scientific Symposium was reimagined as a virtual experience, created and curated so that SOCS members and colleagues from around the world could partake in the program from the safety and comfort of their own homes or offices.
While we have been experiencing increasing Scientific Symposium attendance with each year this year’s SOCS Virtual Scientific Symposium brought together a record-setting 527 participants, broken down as follows:
- 70 SOCS Member Fellow Members
- 20 SOCS Associate Members
- 23 SOCS Research Fellow Members
- 62 SOCS Resident Members
- 107 SOCS Student Members
- 13 SOCS Sponsors
- 34 Non-Member Physicians
- 198 Non-Member Student/Resident/Research Fellows
This year’s Annual SOCS Scientific Symposium attracted a record number of scientific posters/ presentations, including six poster presentations, 43 scientific posters and one sponsor poster. As part of this novel virtual program, participants were able to virtually chat with poster authors and rate the presentations to help select the “2020 Crowd Favorite."
This year’s crowd favorite was Josee Smith, BSc, chosen for her oral presentation, “Quantitative Analysis of Skin Attenuation Using Optical Coherence Tomography.” As part of this honor, she will be interviewed by SOCS Board Member and co-chair of the Mentorship Committee, Dr. Candrice Heath, for a Cutis podcast feature in the future.
In addition, the SOCS Scientific Committee selected the following presenters for other awards:[/two_third_last]
Alfredo Siller Jr., MD —For his oral presentation, “Diversity in Dermatology: Systemic Bias and the Influence of Social and Cultural Capital in the Residency Selection Process,” the 2020 Best Poster Presentation Advancing Skin of Color Dermatology "Facing the Future Award” was given.
Dulce Barrios, MS—For her oral presentation, “Anticancer Therapyinduced Cutaneous Dyschromias in Oncology Patients with Skin of Color," the 2020 Best Oral Presentation Advancing Skin of Color Dermatology "Facing the Future Award” was given. Both of these honors included a monetary award and an interview with Dr. Candrice Heath for future Cutis podcast features.
Once in-person meetings can take place again, we will hold a SOCS networking reception to honor our 2020 outgoing board members, research grant winners, and observership grant recipients. Our aim is to host this reception during one of the larger dermatological meetings held in the near future as soon as feasible. To learn more about the SOCS Annual Scientific Symposium, visit: https://bit.ly/3i5Bn1c