On April 9, the American Skin Association (ASA) presented awards to three honorees and gathered with supporters, including philanthropists, business leaders, and many renowned physicians from the field of dermatology to celebrate another successful year of funding research and educating youth on skin health.
This year’s honorees included:
Allan C. Halpern, MD of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) received ASA’s Career Achievement Award for Use of Artificial Intelligence in Melanoma Diagnosis and Management. Dr. Halpern is an internationally recognized expert in melanoma and pigmented lesions. He has served as co-chairman of the National Council for Skin Cancer Prevention and is currently chief of the Dermatology Service and co-leader of the Melanoma Disease Management Team at MSKCC. Dr. Halpern has contributed to our understanding of melanoma prevention, prognosis and risk stratification, as well as the natural history of melanocytic tumor progression in humans, and has been a pioneer in the application of imaging technologies to dermatology research and clinical care.
Ron Menezes, president and general manager of Almirall accepted ASA’s 2019 Distinguished Corporate Leadership Award on behalf of the company. For more than 75 years, Almirall has been a leading science and technology company delivering life-transforming medicines while working to discover medical solutions to improve the lives of patients worldwide. Almirall is devoted to being innovators in medical dermatology.
Derek Maetzold, founder, president and CEO of Castle Biosciences, received ASA’s Technology Innovation in Melanoma Award. Castle Biosciences focuses on the diagnosis and prognosis of underserved cancers. The company was founded with the belief that understanding the genomic driven biological behavior of a specific patient’s tumor at the level of the expression of the gene can result in a more objective understanding of the patient’s tumor. Castle Biosciences believes this leads to better treatment plan decisions, optimized health outcomes and reduced healthcare costs when compared to traditional clinical and pathologic features.
“We were very proud to honor Dr. Allan Halpern, Almirall and Castle Biosciences for their pioneering efforts in the field of dermatology, and their outstanding commitment to medical advancement,” said Howard P. Milstein, chairman of ASA. “Whether through education, research or innovation, their critical contributions help further ASA’s mission of finding cures for melanoma, skin cancer and other skin diseases.”
The ASA is a collaboration of patients, families, advocates, physicians and scientists. Over the past 32 years, it has funded over $50 million in grants to support the work of more than 300 promising young scientists. For more information, visit www.americanskin.org.
