President’s Welcome

I want to extend a warm welcome to current Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) Members and visitors to our website. The SID is committed to remaining connected and supportive to our community despite the significant challenges presented by the global pandemic during the past year.

The inability to meet in person has been especially difficult for our trainees. It is critical to provide the guidance and resources needed for them to navigate a successful career as a clinician or independent investigator, so mentorship and networking in the COVID era was a top priority during my presidency. We formed small affinity groups, ‘Mentor & Networking Circles’ to facilitate connections between trainees and more senior SID Members in hopes that ongoing discussions in an informal virtual setting will enable young members to access the resources they need to advance their individual career goals.

COVID forced us to move to a virtual meeting in 2020 and we found that the virtual platform yielded some unexpectedly positive outcomes. We achieved a record attendance, including those from many countries who would not otherwise have been able to attend the SID meeting.  Given the ongoing pandemic, our leadership made the decision to again have 2021 SID Annual Meeting as a virtual program.  Having a longer planning period for 2021 has allowed us to make significant enhancements to the upcoming meeting that I think will make the meeting even more valuable and engaging, and I hope you will join us.

Our organization continues to thrive and remains dedicated to our founding values. We remain committed to present exceptional educational programs, publish our outstanding Journal of Investigative Dermatology as well as our new JID Innovations, and nurture the career paths of young investigators.

Janet Fairley, MD, President, SID