On behalf of the PDS Board, I would like to wish everyone KUNG HEI FAT CHOI. According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year 2010 is the Year of the Golden Tiger. Being one of the fearless creatures on earth, the tiger is a sign of courage.

Just like the tiger, the PDS will be a fiery fighter in promoting our Skin Safety Campaign. During the past two years (2008-2009), we have been making the public aware through quadmedia that the PDS is the only specialty society for dermatology recognized by both PMA and PCP.  To this end, we have made some headway in alerting the public of our existence.  But this is not enough! It is time that the public also recognize that there are eleven PDS training institutions in dermatology that produce skilled and competent dermatologists.  Dr. Loverne Suratos, through her unrelenting efforts as Chair of the Public Relations and External Affairs Committee,  has tapped generous companies like Unilever and Johnson and Johnson who are willing to support the PDS Skin Safety Campaign. Our all-out Skin Safety Campaign for this year will include the following:

1.         Organize a pool of spokespersons, one representative from each PDS training institution/chapter, to participate in radio and television interviews to primarily speak about our Skin Safety Campaign and secondly, also discuss a subtopic relating to dermatology. The spokespersons from the eleven training institutions/chapters will be decked on a rotational basis in ten (estimated) radio stations nationwide and in health talk shows such as Salamat Dok or Umagang Kay Ganda.   To enhance the spokesperson’s skill in doing interviews, Chito Macapagal – Vice President for Corporate Affairs in Unilever – agreed to hold a personalized training/workshop with “tips”  included for the pool of spokespersons from the eleven training institutions/chapters.

2.         The PDS will continue to write articles for newspapers and magazines on various dermatologic topics to promote our Skin Safety Campaign.

3.         Last year, PDS leaflets regarding skin, hair and nail care were distributed nationwide to high school students by Unilever, as shown in the table below:

Area                             Number of Schools                    Students

Luzon                            519                                                 850,807

Visayas                         313                                                426,466

Mindanao                    135                                                265,753

This nationwide distribution of PDS leaflets to high school students will still be continued this year.

4.         Also last year, the PDS had a Skin Safety Campaign billboard along Sucat during the whole month of December 2009.  This year, pending Board approval, the PDS Skin Safety Campaign billboard will be located along EDSA for greater exposure to the public.

5.         Car stickers bearing the tagline “PDS for Skin Safety” also awaits Board approval. This is an excellent method of making our message get through to the public since it reinforces the same theme we had been propagating in our quadmedia advertisements (newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television interviews and commercials, PDS billboard, PDS website).

Let us continue to be aggressive and persevering in promoting our Skin Safety Campaign. Let us not be content with the mileage we have gained from the past two years of quadmedia advertisements.  For the diagnosis and treatment of skin, hair and nail diseases or just simply care of

the skin, hair and nails, a PDS dermatologist should be the “first line” choice of patients. After all, aren’t we the experts in dermatology whose ultimate goal is the attainment of healthy skin for all?

GEORGINA C. PASTORFIDE
President