Allergan, Skinbetter Science announce equity and diversity initiative

Steps are being taken to increase diversity and equity within the aesthetics field by Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie company, and Skinbetter Science through the launch of The DREAM Initiative.

DREAM: Driving Racial Equity in Aesthetic Medicine, is focused on implementing measures to increase racial and ethnic diversity, equity, understanding, inclusion and respect within the plastic surgery and dermatology fields, according to the press release.

"As leaders in aesthetics, Allergan Aesthetics and Skinbetter Science are likeminded in our pursuit of advancing equality and diversity in the aesthetics market and believe it is our responsibility to create meaningful, positive change within our own companies, and with our customers," says Carrie Strom, senior vice president of AbbVie and president of Global Allergan Aesthetics. "We are inaugurating the DREAM Initiative with three important projects, which will immediately expand available resources to enhance the care of all patients, as well as to better diagnose and treat dermatologic conditions across the full spectrum of skin types and patients of color."

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With darker skin types being underrepresented in current medical education materials, leading to under- or misdiagnoses in patients with these skin types, both companies are joining forces to construct The National Racial Equity Medical Residency Curriculum.

In an effort to help students, faculty and staff in dermatology and plastic surgery residency program, the curriculum is designed to assist with identification of implicit bias in clinical and academic settings while also demonstrating how to address bias when it occurs. The curriculum will be piloted by a leading university and be subsequently rolled out nationally.

The DREAM Initiative will also sponsor the development of The Spectrum of Dermatologic Disease, a photo atlas textbook showing the characteristics of skin conditions across racial and ethnic skin types. Upon publication, the textbook will be disseminated to medical faculty, residents and program libraries.

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Additionally, the initiative plans on organizing Forces of Beauty Summits to recognize diverse beauty standards amongst various ethnic and racial groups to help aesthetic providers, companies and the media understand the aesthetic needs of all patients, according to the press release.

"Inspired by the nationwide peaceful protests that have galvanized our communities in calling for racial equity in all sectors of society, Skinbetter Science and Allergan Aesthetics wanted to identify ways in which we could leverage our collective experience and knowledge to make a tangible contribution to improving health equity," says Jonah Shacknai, executive chairman of Skinbetter Science. "Helping to make aesthetics and dermatology more inclusive and fair, and enabling physicians and healthcare providers to bring that to life, is an important place to start."

References:

AbbVie. (2020, September 14). Allergan Aesthetics and Skinbetter Science Announce The DREAM Initiative™ To Advance Health Equity and Diversity in Aesthetics. Retrieved September 16, 2020, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/allergan-aesthetics-and-skinbetter-science-announce-the-dream-initiative-to-advance-health-equity-and-diversity-in-aesthetics-301129697.html