October 26, 2024 – PeDRA is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 PeDRA Awards Program! Each year, PeDRA recognizes outstanding individuals and teams who have made significant contributions to pediatric dermatology research, innovation, and community impact. Announcements were made during the Capstone Session at the 2024 PeDRA Annual Conference.
The PeDRA Awards Program was implemented by the PeDRA Board of Directors in 2023 to recognize individuals who distinguish themselves as volunteers, mentors, and community members, thus bringing us closer to PeDRA’s vision of changing lives and healing children with skin disease through collaboration and discovery. Nominations were gathered between February and August of 2024, following which the PeDRA Nominating Committee underwent a rigorous review to determine awardees.
The 2024 PeDRA Awardees are:
2024 Community Member of the Year: Anne Davis, PsyD
Dr. Davis is a licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in trauma/PTSD, and currently works remotely for the South Carolina VA Medical Center in Columbia with the Trauma Recovery Program. She has been working in the field for over a decade and has focused her work on trauma for most of that time. She is also the Executive Director of the nonprofit Heroes for Hallie Grace Inc, which she and her husband founded in memory of their middle child, Hallie Grace Davis, after her passing from Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa-Severe in September of 2021 at the age of 3-months old. Heroes for Hallie Grace’s mission is to raise awareness, help fund research, and aid the EB community in any way possible, including sending welcome packages, providing support items, and memorial boxes. Since its inception in March of 2022, the organization has helped raise close to $150,000 for research and support of the EB community. They also host the “Grace, Grief, and Grit” podcast to help raise awareness.
2024 Volunteer of the Year: Candrice R. Heath, MD
Dr. Heath is highly respected, and triple board-certified in Dermatology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Dermatology. She completed her pediatric training at Emory University, dermatology training at Mt. Sinai – St. Luke’s Roosevelt, and her pediatric dermatology training at Johns Hopkins. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Howard University Department of Dermatology in Washington, DC dividing her time between her roles as a grant-funded clinical researcher, clinician, educator, consultant, and leader in various dermatology organizations, while also dedicating time to her family. Over the years, Dr. Heath has mentored numerous students, developed curated research education experiences, and was awarded the 2023 Educational Service Award from Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University. Also, a series of dermatology health equity-focused articles she co-authored in Cutis’ Dx Across the Skin Color Spectrum won a 2024 National Azbee Bronze Award of Excellence.
2024 Mentor of the Year: Joy Wan, MD, MSCE
Dr. Wan is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also completed dermatology residency and obtained a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology. She completed her pediatric dermatology fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia followed by postdoctoral research training in epidemiology. Her clinical and research interests include atopic dermatitis and pediatric dermato-epidemiology. The mission of her research program is to improve health, social, and life outcomes for children with chronic skin disease.
Congratulations to our 2024 PeDRA Awards winners, and thank you to each of this year’s awardees for their invaluable contributions to PeDRA and the field of pediatric dermatology research! Keep and eye out for outstanding contributors over the next year and submit nominations for 2025 PeDRA Awards on the PeDRA Awards Program webpage starting in early 2025.
If you aren’t already a PeDRA member, join us to be eligible for a future PeDRA Award.
