ILDS Summit Bursary Spotlight
[ric id="2610" srcmoduleimage="https://ilds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maria-Legaspi-360x260.jpg" srcsquare="https://ilds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maria-Legaspi-360x360.jpg" srcoriginal="https://ilds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maria-Legaspi-450x450.jpg" srcvideo="https://ilds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maria-Legaspi-320x180.jpg" srcnarrow="https://ilds.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Maria-Legaspi-475x100.jpg" format="original" alt="" caption="Dr Legaspi with ILDS President Prof Harvey Lui" classes="center"]
My main interest in attending the ILDS Summit was to gain a better understanding of the global practices in conducting skin outreach programs. To learn different perspectives of approaching similar problems and develop better planning methods, which I could adapt for our organization, the Philippine Academy of Dermatologic Surgery Foundation Inc.
A key learning from the Summit included learning how the ILDS functions to provide strategic leadership, leveraging ILDS international standing to educate and empower dermatologists, their societies and the public.
The highlight of the summit was the workshop I attended on training and education needs and solutions. I had the opportunity to listen to an in-depth analysis by Dr Neil Shear (Canadian Dermatology Association) and the panel, which included Dr Evangeline Handog (former International Society of Dermatology President), who discussed the unmet needs with respect to dermatology training and education in different areas of the world and elaborated on strategic solutions that could be implemented to enable global harmonization of the quality of training and education, as well as global access to educational and training resources.
It was enlightening to learn and share with my colleagues that many problems we face in our country are globally experienced problems, involving ethically marketing the practice of dermatology, the use of social media, the blurring of the lines amongst specialities wherein every other speciality overnight becomes a dermatologist. Aside from these insights I also obtained a copy of the 2016 ILDS revised glossary for the description of cutaneous lesions which I shared with my colleagues.
The Summit broadened my personal perspective of the global practice of dermatology where similar problems were presented, and possible solutions were suggested. At the end of the day, the drivers of change shall always be education and action. We must educate our countrymen on the prevention of skin disease and we must call on our colleagues to forge together in our outreach projects to treat as many patients with skin disease to attain skin health for the world.
The journey is long and weary, and we have miles to go before we achieve this goal but as we go from day to day, the ILDS together with its 170 strong members shall achieve the goal of skin health for the world. Long live ILDS!
Dr Maria Encarnacion R. Legaspi
President Philippine Academy of Dermatologic Surgery Foundation Inc (PADSFI)