Annual Report of the Senior Skin Group 2014
This has not been the best year for the Senior Skin Group. It is with great regret that we record the death of Dr Roger Woodford, one of the committee from the early days of the group. Roger, an academic pharmacist, was an energetic committee member and will be much missed.
Our major educational meeting in March 2014 had to be cancelled because of poor attendance figures. This was in spite of what we considered to be an excellent programme and better publicity for which we thank the BAD and BDNG. Moving out of London was a decision taken to try to make the event more accessible but to no avail. We apologise to those who did plan to attend and to those who had very kindly agreed to speak at the meeting. At our AGM during the BAD Annual Meeting, we hope to generate a plan for further events during the year ahead.
Nevertheless, all is not doom and gloom. Our essay competition on “The effects of aging on skin of colour” was won by Dr David Chandler and this was published in the journal “Geriatric Medicine” in January. Congratulations to David. A session on skin disease in the elderly is now an established feature of the educational events run by this journal.
This year, we launched a website on www.senior-skin.org.uk and hope to expand the usefulness of this as a means of communication both with members and the wider community. We welcome any comments on this and ideas for expanding our influence. . Trainees in particular should look out for the essay competition and further educational activities.
In April, Julie van Onselen starred in a television programme with a small contribution from the chair. This was produced by a healthcare subscription channel, ACC with Julie taking part in a live “phone in” on the day of transmission. The programme is available to view on You Tube.
Membership of the Senior Skin Group is open to any health professional with an interest in elderly skin and contact details are on the BAD website as well as our own. Currently we have around 20 members. As the population ages, there is an urgent need to address the issues of skin disease in the elderly. Please consider joining us and helping to stimulate interest and research. Do come and meet us at our AGM on Tuesday 1st July at 12.30 during the BAD annual meeting. A light lunch will be provided. In addition to the business meeting, we are very much looking forward to talks by Dr Colin Long on pruritic disorders and an address by our founding father, Professor Ronnie Marks. It is delightful that Ronnie’s contribution to Dermatology is being recognised by the award of the Archibald Gray medal. All are welcome at the meeting and we welcome any offers to join the committee. This is not a big commitment, many of our meetings taking place by telephone conference to reduce the need to travel.
M Kirkup
Chair, Senior Skin Group