Dermatologists to participate in World Vitiligo Day events

Members of the Vitiligo Working Group, a physician-led organization raising awareness and support of patients with vitiligo, will participate in events commemorating World Vitiligo Day on June 25.

John E. Harris, MD, PhD, director of University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center and assistant professor of medicine at UMMS, and Nada Elbuluk, MD, MSc, assistant professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University, were to present a video titled “Vitiligo: Truth, Hope and Change” on June 24 to a gathering in Washington, D.C. The event is being hosted by VitFriends, a vitiligo patient support group, according to a press release from the Vitiligo Working Group.

Nada Elbuluk

John E. Harris

They will be joined by Richard Huggins, MD, a dermatologist at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, and member of the Vitiligo Working Group, according to the release.

Harris and Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, founder and medical director, Innovative Dermatology, and clinical assistant professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, will be among the presenters on June 25 at the First Vitiligo Rally in front of the U.S. Capitol steps, which will include patients with vitiligo and their loved ones, and will be led by VitFriends. Desai is chair of the Vitiligo Working Group's Advocacy Committee.

“The rally’s purpose is to unify, inspire and empower the vitiligo community, and to help deliver the message to legislators that vitiligo is a serious autoimmune disease that needs to be taken seriously, at it can be psychologically devastating and socially isolating,” according to the release.

Reference: www.vitiligoworkinggroup.com; www.henryford.com