Transatlantic Conference Highlights Major Issues in Dermatology
The XI International Dermatologic Galilei Symposium — an annual conference jointly sponsored by the departments of dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the University of Pisa — was held for the first time in Miami March 28-30.
Conference founders Marco Romanelli, M.D., Ph.D., and Paolo Romanelli, M.D., center left and right, with Galilei Symposium attendees.
Twenty faculty members traveled from Europe and the Middle East — eight from Pisa, 10 from other Italian cities, one from Kuwait and one from Greece — to attend the 11th conference, which offered a high-level agenda of some of the most important current topics in dermatology.
But the Galilei Symposium is also a family affair, having been started in 2005 by South Florida-raised dermatologist brothers — Paolo Romanelli, M.D., professor of dermatology at the Miller School, and Marco Romanelli, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Division of Dermatology in Pisa — to honor their father, Renzo Romanelli, M.D., who, after relocating his family from Tuscany in 1977, taught at what was then known as the University of Miami School of Medicine until his retirement in 2000.
The development of the conference agenda is shared each year by the two schools, with this year’s scientific secretariat composed of Joely Kaufman, M.D., and Mariya Miteva, M.D., from the Miller School, and Andrea Chiricozzi, M.D., and Valentina Dini, M.D., Ph.D., from Pisa.
In addition to the scientific presentations, the conference featured tours of the Miller School’s dermatology clinical facilities, the Diabetes Research Institute and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
“We are doing some of the most advanced work in dermatology found anywhere in the world here at the Miller School, and we were proud to present it to our colleagues from Pisa and elsewhere,” said Paolo Romanelli. “In return, we were able to learn about their own work, which continues to push the frontiers of dermatology. This is a valuable exchange that ultimately benefits dermatology patients around the world.”