A highlight of the calendar each year, the Alan Cooper Epiderm lecture provides insights from Australia’s leading dermatologists

The Alan Cooper Epiderm Lecture is held annually by the University of Queensland. The event showcases the achievements of the dermatology department over the previous twelve months, and each year there is an eminent invited speaker as guest lecturer.

The story started in 1889 in Paris when the first World Congress of Dermatology was held. World Congresses have been held every five, and more recently four years ever since. Winning the right to stage a world congress is very competitive with often up to six countries bidding. In 1992 I put together a team to bid for the 1997 congress, and we managed to convince the Assembly of Delegates to entrust us with it.

The congress was very successful with over 6,000 delegates and over 10,000 people registered. The success translated into a surplus of almost $2.5m. These funds were transferred into a foundation, The Dermatology Research and Education Foundation, subsequently named Epiderm. Each year the foundation received submissions for research proposals and interest on the invested funds allowed significant grants to be awarded to suitable projects.

Eventually the directors of the foundation concluded that a more effective use of the funds would be to boost the Dermatology Department of UQ who already had received numerous grants from Epiderm over the years. After discussions with the dean of medicine the university agreed to match our donation dollar for dollar which enabled the department, under the supervision of Professor Peter Soyer, to significantly extend its research footprint. UQ Dermatology is now recognised as one of the leading dermatology research centres in the world.

In recognition of the contribution from Epiderm, Professor Soyer decided to establish an annual lecture. The first lecture was held in September 2015 at which time my melanoma had progressed to stage IV which might be why I was honoured with having my name included.

The first guest lecturer was Professor Erwin Tschachler from the University of Vienna, and a past president of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV). Erwin has been a friend of Peter’s since childhood, and I have known him independently for decades. The second lecturer was Professor Mark Pittelkow from the Mayo Clinic, someone I have known since we started working together at Mayo in 1980, and someone known to Peter for many years. Erwin and Mark had both previously spent time in Australia lecturing, and teaching and mentoring dermatology trainees.

In August 2019 I was pleased to have as joint guest lecturers colleagues Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer AO, world leaders in melanoma treatment and diagnosis, and my treating doctors vwhose efforts ensured that I am still here today.

At the past two lectures Professor Soyer has assembled a panel of eminent scientists and clinicians to discuss a particular topic rather than having a single lecturer. This format has proven to be very informative and very popular.

Each year I have been invited to say a few words during the evening, and I always look forward to the opportunity to praise the achievements of Peter and his coworkers, and of course to promote MSCAN to the dermatologists in attendance. This year, 2023, was a particularly exciting event with the announcement of a substantial donation to the department that will allow a named chair in perpetuity. Suitably, the donor has requested that the chair be named after Prof. Peter Soyer which is an appropriate recognition of his achievements at the University of Queensland and on the world stage.

In addition to the announcement, we were fortunate to hear Peter deliver the keynote address titled ‘AI-Powered Skin Cancer Diagnosis’. It was a terrific presentation highlighting the incredible opportunities presented by AI in the future of early detection of melanoma and skin cancer. Peter’s address also provided an update on the incredible work undertaken by the Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging & Diagnosis (ACEMID). MSCAN is proud to be a consumer partner of the ACEMID project.

Photos courtesy of the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland