Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends

Bordeaux, best known for its wine châteaux, is featured on the ESDR 2019 poster* by one of its famous monuments known as ‘le pont de pierre’, a stone bridge erected after a decree of Napoleon in 1807. Its construction was difficult because of the width of the river Garonne, floods and tides, as well as financial difficulties, but since its grand opening in 1822, the citizens of Bordeaux are very proud of their elegant bridge. From the stone bridge you can discover the magnificent 18th century architecture of the left bank and understand why the city belongs to UNESCO world heritage.

“Connecting Skin and Science” is an ambitious motto, but if the construction of the stone bridge on a large and sometimes tumultuous river was very challenging two centuries ago, dermatology has also achieved major and sometimes unexpected breakthroughs over the last two decades, and we owe the progresses not only to serendipity but also to good science applied to our favorite organ, skin. One of the pioneers in photodermatology, oncodermatology and dermatosurgery was the first chair and founder of the Bordeaux school of Dermatology, William-Auguste Dubreuilh (1857-1935). We are very honoured to host the 49th meeting of the ESDR in the spirit of our motto, in full accordance with the vision of Dubreuilh one century ago.

Welcome to Bordeaux!

Alain Taïeb
ESDR 2019 Local Organising Committee Chair

Welcome from the ESDR President

The ESDR facilitates and drives initiatives to encourage high quality science, discussion, education and mentoring for our future leaders in skin science. One way of delivering this mission is through our annual scientific meeting of the ESDR which, over the last 49 years, has become one of the go-to events for both basic and clinical scientists to discuss and exchange new findings and ideas in skin science. It has expanded beyond Europe with many delegates and presenters attending from the other continents.

The 2019 meeting program not only builds on the successes of previous meetings but also includes changes to the program to further enhance scientific discussion and opportunities for both scientists and clinicians to present their data. We have a spacious poster area with more time in the program for poster viewing and discussion. There will be a large number of poster walks, electronic poster displays and opportunities for presenters to produce video poster uploads on the ESDR meeting website. In addition to posters and free oral communication sessions, we have a program filled with outstanding globally recognised invited speakers including in the Frontiers in Skin Biology and Dermatology plenary sessions. Our Future Leaders have organised another exciting symposium. Furthermore, we have special interest groups to hold satellite meetings at ESDR so that the full breadth of essential expertise is present at the meeting. We also bring together academia and biopharma in dedicated sessions to discuss new ideas in target discovery and clinical translation. Finally, the expanded poster viewing sessions alongside our social program creates an environment allowing exchange of ideas, humour and collaboration with old and new friends.

As the first non-clinical president of the ESDR and, on behalf of the ESDR board, I would like to encourage both basic and clinical scientists to join us at the ESDR meeting in 2019 to present your latest research in skin science and to interact both scientifically and socially with our international delegates. Thanks to Prof Alain Taïeb and the local organising committee, we have the superb Bordeaux Congress Centre and a special social program to connect skin science and health.

We look forward to seeing you in Bordeaux!

David Kelsell
President, ESDR