Women's Dermatologic Society

  WDS Service Spotlight – Behind the Play Safe in the Sun event at the Chicago Triathlon with Mariam Mafee, MD Interviewed by Chiara Rosenbaum, MD The WDS Play Safe in the Sun program enables members to share sun safety education, offer skin checks, and hand out complimentary sunscreen samples to the community. Of the many service events organized this past year, the Play Safe event at the Chicago Triathlon has been attended by members for years. This past August, Dr. Mariam Mafee led the event and had a great volunteer turn out of thirty WDS members, residents, and medical students. They performed over 60 free skin cancer screenings and handed out over 700 sunscreen samples, along with UV detecting bracelets. We wanted to highlight Dr. Mafee and share her experience and insights from being involved in the service event. 1) Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I am a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, and I practice at Rush Medical Group in C...

Service Spotlight: 2024 Volunteer of the Year Award   Dr. Nada Elbuluk has been selected as the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s prestigious Volunteer of the Year for 2024. Dr. Nada Elbuluk is an Associate Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine. She is also the founder of the Skin of Color Center and Pigmentary Disorders Clinic as well as the Director of Dermatology Diversity and Inclusion Program. We had the opportunity to ask Dr. Elbuluk a few questions regarding her success in balancing her prolific professional and personal life while so generously giving back to her community:   1) What first inspired you to become involved in community service and what continues to inspire you? I was first inspired to be involved in community service by my parents. My parents were very involved in giving back to our local community where I grew up as well as to their communities where they grew up overseas. They instilled in my siblings and I the importance of giving back an...

The WDS held another fantastic Play Safe in the Sun event chaired by Dr. Mariam Mafee the weekend of August 25th at the Chicago Triathlon. In total, 142 skin cancer screenings were performed by a group of 30 volunteers, composed of medical students, residents, fellows, and board-certified dermatologists. Over 6,000 packets of sunscreen were dispensed to the triathletes. Dr. Mafee credited the success of the event to the “WDS staff (shout out to Mary Baierl!) [who] were absolutely key in preparing and coordinating on the day of the event. It went so smoothly, and was truly so much fun!” Beyond the joy of meeting students and other dermatologists from around the city, Dr. Mafee stated, “The people we screened were so genuinely grateful for our time, it makes me want to do this event every year!”  The WDS puts on several of these large Play Safe in the Sun events each year, most recently held in Omaha, New York, and Chicago. These events are a fantastic way to get involved. If you a...

  The Women’s Dermatologic Society teamed up with the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Dermatology to serve in two incredibly successful "Play Safe in the Sun” volunteer events in June! We kicked things off at the annual Cattlemen’s Ball fundraiser- an event that has raised more than $17 million to fund cancer research since its inception in 1998. There was a fantastic turnout with hundreds of visitors stopping by the booth and appreciating the sunscreen (complimentary from WDS partner LaRoche Posay) on an incredibly bright day. Many attendees let us know that because of our presence at this event in prior years, they started seeing a dermatologist for skin checks. The sunscreen, UV patches, and UV bracelets are always popular! Later in June, the team set up directly outside the NCAA College World Series Championship game and were ready for the baseball fans! Last year, this event was so successful that over 1,500 packets of sunscreen were handed out in the ...

Dr. Kristie Hayes has been selected as the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s prestigious Volunteer of the Year for 2023. Dr. Kristie Hayes is an Associate Professor and Director of Diversity at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is an accomplished physician, is dedicated to family, and is an exemplary servant-leader. We had the chance to ask Dr. Hayes a few questions regarding her success at navigating and successfully balancing her professional and personal life while so generously giving back to her community.       What first inspired you to become involved in community service and what continues to inspire you? In college, after an apartment fire that left me without furniture, clothing, and a place to live, the ability to access emergency services from community-based organizations changed my life and gave me a desire to give back whenever I could. There is always someone in need of the very basics — food, clothing, shelter, and health care access — that we ...

WDS SERVICE SPOTLIGHT What is our impact? Feedback from our service event attendees!   Over the past year the Woman’s Dermatologic Society organized fifty-five service events. These included forty-two Transforming Interconnecting Program Project (TIPP), nine Coast-2-Coast, and four Play Safe in the Sun events. These events took place across the nation including the following locations: WDS’s Play Safe in the Sun and Coast-2-Coast events focus on sun safety and skin cancer prevention whereas TIPP events cover a variety of educational topics including skincare basics, nutrition, hygiene, self-care, social & interview skills, pregnancy & newborn skincare, study skills, how to be drugstore savvy, self-treating, teenage acne, and hair & scalp basics. The Transforming Interconnecting Project Program (TIPP): Total Women's Health Via the Dermatology Gateway events take place at woman’s shelters with a primary aim to “lift up women in need.” The mission statement exp...