GlobalSkin at the 2019 EADV Congress

The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress 2019 in Madrid was the fifth Congress GlobalSkin Board Directors and senior staff have attended since our inception in 2015.   GlobalSkin’s objective during the EADV Congress is to connect with stakeholders and bring attention to the work we and our Members undertake to improve the lives of patients living with dermatological diseases. Highlights from this year’s Congress include the Joint Special Interest Session with the EADV, the Patient Society Village, GRIDD poster presentation, Industry events and our Skin Matters Reception.  

Joint Session - EADV Patient Working Group/EADV Psychodermatology Task Force/IADPO

This year’s joint session was entitled “Building the doctor-patient relationship through effective communication”; this is the third consecutive year for a co-organized session between EADV and IADPO.  Patient organizations were prominently featured in this multidisciplinary program highlighting the importance of positive and open communications between doctors and patients. The session was co-chaired by Jean-Marie Meurant, past President of the IADPO Board of Directors along with representatives from the EADV Patient Working Group and the EADV Psychodermatology Task Force.  Patient organization representatives Snezana Sundic Vardic from Alergija i Ja (Serbia), Dr. Jasmin Barman-Aksözen from Swiss Society for Porphyria, and Antoine Gliksohn from Genespoir (France) presented their personal stories on this topic and emphasised the importance of effective communication, mutual respect, and the need for a supportive approach to dialogue between patients and doctors.   

The Patient Society Village offered GlobalSkin Members the opportunity to directly connect with doctors, healthcare providers and delegates and to demonstrate their support for dermatological patients in Europe and globally.  It allowed for our patient leaders to provide delegates with a better understanding of the needs of dermatology patients.  GlobalSkin coordinated attendance at the Patient Society Village with its European patient organization members and patient organizations and saw 19 patient organizations participate this year. By hosting our own booth, GlobalSkin brought awareness to the scope and reach of our global Membership.  We look forward to working with the EADV and patient organizations to continue building this presence next year.

An important milestone for the Global Research on the Impact of Dermatological Diseases project was an oral presentation of the Systematic Literature Review (Phase 1) findings during the EADV Congress.  Members of the GRIDD Researcher Team Rachael Pattison, Cardiff University and Nirohshah Trialonis-Suthakharan, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf presented the e-Poster.  We look forward to next year’s Congress when we anticipate reporting on Phase 2 of this ground-breaking research.   

The 2019 Congress demonstrated progress on the inclusion of the patient voice and patient organization perspective in its programming. Not only were patient organization representatives provided with access to attend scientific sessions, but the patient perspective was incorporated into more and more sessions during the Congress. As noted previously, patient leaders were part of our co-organized joint interest session and other GlobalSkin Members took part in other presentations. Karin Veldman from Vereniging voor Ichthyosis Netwerken (Netherlands) was invited to share her experiences in a scientific session on E-Dermatology, and Joanna Camilo from ADERMAP - Associação Dermatite Atópica Portugal was invited to speak at an industry session on Atopic Eczema, which was moderated by Jennifer Austin, ED of IADPO.

GlobalSkin also co-hosted a session with the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Organizations (EFA) on “How to improve quality of life in atopic eczema beyond the physician consultation”. This session was recorded and can be viewed here. Patient organization representatives were also invited to attend a meeting with the EADV Patient Working Group and Nurses Working Group on how to increase the involvement of these key stakeholders in future EADV initiatives. Positive dialogue like this is helping to move patient organization inclusion forward at the EADV Congress.

In four short years since IADPO’s first attended the EADV Congress, we have seen a more patient-focused approach to programming at the EADV; this movement demonstrates the importance of the patient perspective to this medical society. GlobalSkin has established a positive working relationship with EADV leadership and as a result GlobalSkin has been invited to sit for a one-year term as the first patient organization representative on the EADV’s Patient Association Working Group.

We will continue to collaborate on the 2020 EADV Congress Program on another joint session, strive for a further enhanced the patient society village and create more opportunities for patient leaders during the event.

Visit our Flickr Albums to view photos from all events at the EADV including our Skin Matters Reception.  The reception is GlobalSkin’s opportunity to showcase our organization’s successes. We invite stakeholders, Member representatives and delegates from the EADV to informally learn about our GRIDD project and the important work GlobalSkin undertakes on a daily basis to improve the lives of patients living with dermatological conditions.