In A Year of Hardship, You Helped Us Make So Much Happen

You’d be hard-pressed to find many people who claim 2020 was a great year, thanks in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a year of challenges, The Skin Cancer Foundation’s community of skin cancer warriors, healthy skin champions, physicians, donors and corporate partners came together in innovative ways to help us continue our lifesaving work.

With your help, we’ve kept busy during this tumultuous year. We launched new initiatives, expanded our resources for skin cancer patients, improved accessibility on our website and published more content than ever before. Check out some of our achievements below!

You helped us make it easier for everyone to find safe and effective sun protection products.

We kicked off the year with the launch of our new Product Finder, a helpful resource that lets you search for sunscreens, clothing and other items to help protect your skin from damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Everything in the Product Finder has earned The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation, granted to products that meet our criteria for safe and effective sun protection. Our Seal program is overseen by renowned experts who serve on the Foundation’s volunteer Photobiology Committee. The new product finder offers users a streamlined, intuitive experience that makes it easy to find the right products for you.

You helped us launch our first patient support program.

At The Skin Cancer Foundation, we know a skin cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. That’s why we created Robins Nest, which aims to provide guidance and direction to patients, caregivers, families and friends dealing with a skin cancer diagnosis and the ensuing treatment. The program was designed with the unique challenges of skin cancer patients in mind, to answer all-too-common questions like, “Where do I begin?” and “What should I do next?” Find resources for skin cancer patients here.

You helped us develop COVID-19 resources for skin cancer patients.

When the quarantine began, many people faced upheaval to their health-care routine. We snapped into action to develop COVID-19 & You. This new section of our website helps make sense of skin cancer prevention, detection and treatment during the pandemic, answering questions like “How is telemedicine helping during the COVID-19 crisis?” and “Do I have to wear sunscreen under my mask?” Visit the resource page here; you’ll find information and educational videos featuring SCF member dermatologists.

You helped us #SharetheFacts.

This year social media become more important than ever before, as we all tried to stay connected while physically distancing. Our team was determined to continue raising skin cancer awareness efforts despite the pandemic, so we created a digital toolkit to help people keep the skin cancer prevention and detection conversation going. By using #SharetheFacts, people around the world helped us spread the word about the dangers of skin cancer, the importance of sun protection and the warning signs of the disease. Check out our toolkit, and be sure to tag @TheSkinCancerFoundation on Facebook and @SkinCancerOrg on Twitter and Instagram in your posts.

You helped us provide more inclusive and accessible skin cancer information.

Skin cancer can affect anyone, regardless of race or ethnicity. It’s important for everyone to be educated about sun protection (yes, even if you never burn!) and know what to look for when examining your skin. SCF has curated information — from statistics to interviews with the experts — specifically regarding skin cancer and people of color, so everyone can understand how skin cancer occurs, looks and feels on their skin type. We are always working to acquire more photos of these skin cancers and make sure skin of color is part of the conversation about skin cancer prevention, detection and treatment. And for people with disabilities, we’ve taken steps and will continue to prioritize making all of our skin cancer information more accessible.

You helped us support skin cancer research.

For 40 years, The Skin Cancer Foundation has awarded research grants to physicians and scientists to encourage innovation in prevention, early detection and treatment of skin cancer. Some of these grants have helped launch long, fruitful careers in research, and we’re sure our 2020 grant winners have the potential to contribute to the field in big ways. Chosen by a group of world-class volunteer physicians, the projects presented by the winners were judged to be the most promising out of more than 40 applications from world-class institutions across the country. To learn what our grant winners are working on, click here.

In a year of unprecedented challenge and change, we’ve been there with education, support and research to help people affected by skin cancer. But we could not have done it without supporters like you. We look forward to new beginnings and continued progress in 2021.