Skin of Color Society, NEJM Group and VisualDx Launch Free Webinar Series on Addressing Racism in Medicine

Skin of Color Society, NEJM Group, and VisualDx are proud to announce a series of virtual panel discussions that call attention to health disparities and structural racism in medicine. The four-part webinar series, "The Impact of Skin Color and Ethnicity on Clinical Diagnosis and Research," will delve into longstanding problems in education, research, and patient care as well as introduce ways to improve outcomes in marginalized patients.

Studies have shown patients with darker skin experience worse health outcomes than patients with lighter skin. This free series will address the socioeconomic factors, structural racism, and implicit bias that lead to disparities, as well as look at how the medical community can address these issues by offering tangible, real-world solutions. Each discussion will feature insights from renowned experts, thought leaders and advocates that are driving the industry forward to improve the health and lives of underrepresented populations.

The four-part series will feature the following topics and leading physicians:

• "Structural Racism and Racial Bias in Medicine," Wednesday, October 28 at 1 pm ET: Focused on identifying health disparities and highlighting solutions to address this issue such as medical education, more training and funding, and fast-tracking research publication. Panelists include Susan C. Taylor, MD, Henry W. Lim, MD, and Maritza I. Perez, MD; the discussion will be moderated by Susan Saulny.
• "Hair Disorders in People of Color," Thursday, November 12 at 1 pm ET: Focused on the external factors and systemic diseases that can cause hair loss, and the need for physicians to understand the effect of ethnicity on the significance and cultural meaning of hair loss to better treat this critical problem. Panelists include Ncoza Dlova, MBChB, FCDerm, PhD and Andrew F. Alexis, MD, MPH; the discussion will be moderated by Amy McMichael, MD.
• "Pigmentary Disorders and Keloids," Wednesday, November 18 at 1 pm ET: Focused on sharing the latest research and treatment options on keloids/hypertrophic scarring and on the breadth of pigmentary disorders and how these conditions are often signs of systemic disease, causing serious psychological and social ramifications. Panelists include Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, and Donald A. Glass II, MD, PhD; the discussion will be moderated by Pearl E. Grimes, MD.
• "COVID-19 Comorbidities and Cutaneous Manifestations of Systemic Diseases in Adults and Children," Wednesday December 2 at 1 pm ET: Focused on the challenges of recognizing systemic diseases in melanin-rich skin types, using skin signs of COVID-19 morbidities to demonstrate the need to improve diagnostic accuracy and efficiency in patients of color. Panelists include Lynn McKinley-Grant, MD, FAAD, Candrice R. Heath, MD, and Ginette A. Okoye, MD.

"For 20 years, we have been committed to improving diagnosis and care in patients with skin of color," said Art Papier, MD, CEO of VisualDx. "We are thrilled to team up with such exemplary partners who share in that commitment. Now is the time to not only talk about racial disparities, but to do something impactful about the problem by equipping our clinicians with the ongoing education, training, and comprehensive information tools needed to improve patient care."

"Implicit bias and structural racism play a central role in the development of health care disparities. One example is misdiagnosis of skin diseases in patients of color," said Kathy Charlton, Managing Director of NEJM Group Education and Applied Knowledge. "NEJM Group is pleased to be a part of this collaborative effort with Skin of Color Society and VisualDx to engage and educate clinicians to strive for diagnostic quality and accuracy in patients of color."

"Founded 16 years ago, the Skin of Color Society's (SOCS) programs in education, research, and mentoring and SOCS' collaboration with other dermatology societies have significantly increased the numbers of underrepresented minority dermatologists, research grants, publications, and educational opportunities in skin of color dermatology. SOCS welcomes this collaboration with NEJM Group and VisualDx. These webinars exemplify the type of education needed to understand implicit bias and eliminate health disparities in people of color," said Lynn McKinley-Grant, MD, FAAD, SOCS President.

These events are free and open to the public but are geared toward frontline healthcare workers. Skin of Color Society, NEJM Group and VisualDx would like to thank Zoom Video Communications for its in-kind support of this webinar series.

For more information on the webinars and expert panelists, and to register, visit https://specialevents.nejm.org/impact-of-skin-color-and-ethnicity-on-clinical-diagnosis-and-research/.

About VisualDx

VisualDx is a company dedicated to improving medical decisions through augmented thinking and timely visualization. It is committed to reducing disparities in medicine and believes technology can bridge gaps in knowledge to bring about more equitable care. The professional product, VisualDx, is the award-winning diagnostic clinical decision support system that has become the standard professional resource at more than 2,300 hospitals worldwide and over half the U.S. medical schools. VisualDx, along with its consumer tool Aysa, combines problem oriented clinical search with the world's best curated medical image library, plus medical knowledge from experts and sophisticated machine learning algorithms to help with differential diagnosis, variation, treatment, and patient communication. Learn more at www.visualdx.com.

About NEJM Group

NEJM Group creates high-quality medical resources for research, learning, practice and professional development designed to meet the demand for essential medical knowledge among academic researchers and teachers, physicians, clinicians, executives and others in medicine and health care. NEJM Group products include the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM Journal Watch, NEJM Knowledge+, and NEJM Catalyst, NEJM Resident 360, and NEJM Yi Xue Qian Yan. NEJM Group is a division of the Massachusetts Medical Society. For more information visit www.nejmgroup.org.

About Skin of Color Society Foundation

The Skin of Color Society (SOCS) is a professional dermatologic organization dedicated to promoting awareness of, and excellence in, the specialty of skin of color dermatology. The Society was established in 2004 by Susan C. Taylor, MD, and has grown to include members from numerous countries around the world. The Society is committed to wide-ranging educational and investigational pursuits designed to positively impact individuals with skin of color and to ensure the success of dermatologists in serving these individuals through research support, training and mentorship. Learn more at www.skinofcolorsociety.org.