Striving for Melanoma Advancements With the Melanoma Research Alliance

“The Melanoma Research Alliance works closely with dermatologists, oncologists, surgeons, and other experts to advance melanoma research. For dermatologists specifically, we have a few award mechanisms where we support advanced research that dermatologists are conducting... Starting this year, we have a new award mechanism called the Dermatology Career Development award, which is to help new dermatologists as they enter their first faculty appointment,” said Marc Hurlbert, PhD, the chief executive officer of the Melanoma Research Alliance.

Hurlbert recently spoke to Dermatology Times to dive into the Melanoma Research Alliance, its mission, and how it supports dermatology clinicians with funding and resources for melanoma research.

The Melanoma Research Alliance was founded in 2007 and is the world’s largest non-profit funder of melanoma research. Overall, the organization has invested over $150 million through 415 grant awards toward scientific research.¹

May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month and an important time for dermatology clinicians to promote skin cancer education and prevention, emphasize the importance of regular skin checks for their patients, and share their latest updates in melanoma research.

“The Melanoma Research Alliance has useful information for anyone about preventing and detecting melanoma. But more specifically, we also have a deep interest in rare melanoma subtypes which could affect all of your populations from any background, race, or ethnicity. We have some literature around acral melanoma and mucosal melanoma, which are often more common in populations from skin of color communities,” said Hurlbert.

Watskin clothing | Image credit: © Watskin

The Melanoma Research Alliance has partners in the community and large academic/medical center levels to advance melanoma research. Hurlbert encourages all dermatology clinicians to reach out to the Melanoma Research Alliance to work toward the common goal to end melanoma.

Hurlbert mentioned that one of the Melanoma Research Alliance’s important partners is the Watskin UPF clothing brand. Watskin’s outdoor clothing is designed with UPF 50+ material to block harmful UV rays. For patients who love the outdoors but need increased sun protection, dermatology clinicians can recommend sun-protective clothing.

Transcript

Marc Hurlbert, PhD: Hi, I'm Marc Hurlburt, the chief executive officer of the Melanoma Research Alliance.

Dermatology Times: Can you please provide an overview of the Melanoma Research Alliance and its goals?

Hurlbert: The Melanoma Research Alliance is the world's largest nonprofit funder of melanoma research. Our mission is to end melanoma by advancing the world's most promising research. The Melanoma Research Alliance, or MRA, for short, has invested more than $160 million in melanoma researcher since we were founded just more than 15 years ago.

Dermatology Times: What is your role with the Melanoma Research Alliance?

Hurlbert: At MRA, I serve as the chief executive officer, however, my background is as a scientist by training. I was MRA's chief science officer for about 5 years and just recently stepped up to become CEO. In my role, I get to work very closely with patients and families touched by melanoma, as well as dermatologists, oncologists, and laboratory researchers studying melanoma all over the world trying to advance new treatments and new ways to detect and prevent melanoma.

Dermatology Times: How does the Melanoma Research Alliance support dermatology clinicians regarding providing patient information or educational resources to share?

Hurlbert: The Melanoma Research Alliance works closely with dermatologists, oncologists, surgeons, and other experts to advance melanoma research. For dermatologists specifically, we have a few award mechanisms where we support advanced research that dermatologists are conducting. We recently ended a program that we had where we funded dermatology fellowships. These were derm residents in their final year or 2 of dermatology residency. We invested in 45 of those since 2019. And starting this year, we have a new award mechanism called the Dermatology Career Development award, which is to help new dermatologists as they enter their first faculty appointment. Also, MRA has a lot of educational resources. The audience can visit us at Curemelanoma.org and download or contact us to get any flyers or informational brochures. The Melanoma Research Alliance has useful information for anyone about preventing and detecting melanoma. But more specifically, we also have a deep interest in rare melanoma subtypes which could affect all of your populations from any background, race, or ethnicity. And specifically, we have some literature around acral melanoma and mucosal melanoma, which are often more common in populations from skin of color communities.

Dermatology Times: Can dermatology clinicians work with or be involved with the Melanoma Research Alliance?

Hurlbert: We encourage all dermatologists to reach out to us. We love to partner, whether you're at a big academic center or community derm practice. We love to be engaged with dermatologists. The Melanoma Research Alliance partners both at the community level as well as at the large city academic medical center level to help advance melanoma research. So, reach out to us, you can reach out to myself or any of the staff at Curemelanoma.org, which has all of our contact information, email, cell phones, and we'd love to partner with you if you're interested in helping advance melanoma research.

Dermatology Times: What does Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month mean to the Melanoma Research Alliance?

Hurlbert: May is Skin Cancer and Melanoma Awareness Month. And this is really critical we believe at the Melanoma Research Alliance, because it's sort of the first month when people really begin to think of transitioning from spring to summer, people might be planning their upcoming Memorial Day or summer vacations. And it's a great month to remind people to wear sunscreen and UPF protective clothing year-round, but especially we'd like to remind people during the month of May. For us at MRA, Melanoma Awareness Month is a critical time to raise visibility about the importance of sun protection. Melanoma is a relatively rare skin cancer, only about 100,000 cases in the United States each year. However, it is the deadliest form of skin cancer with about 8000 people that will die from the disease this year. So it's important as we enter the month of May and throughout the year to practice sun safety and I'm happy to share some tips.

Dermatology Times: What challenges do you still see in melanoma and skin cancer education, prevention, or treatment?

Hurlbert: The biggest challenges that we see in melanoma prevention as well as treatment are a few fold. One, a lot of people think of melanoma as just a simple skin cancer, you cut it out and you're cured. And sadly, that's not the case for 1000s and 1000s of people each year. They need surgery as well as follow-up treatments. We've made great progress, in part with MRA research funding. There have been 17 new drugs approved in the last roughly decade and a half to help treat advanced cases of melanoma. And this is turning patients' stories with an advanced melanoma from a story of struggle and not having a good outcome, to potentially a story of survival. But even these latest treatments only cure about half of patients with advanced melanoma. So, we still have a lot of work to do. And the MRA is committed to doubling down and investing in more research until we ultimately can cure and prevent melanoma.

Dermatology Times: What do you want dermatology clinicians to know about the Watskin sun protection clothing brand?

Hurlbert: At the MRA, we believe that everyone should practice sun safety throughout the year. We believe that includes starting with sunblock. You should always look for broad-spectrum sun protection that protects against UVA and UVB radiation. We believe in recommending an SPF factor of 30 or higher. I personally use SPF 50 every day. If I'm going to be outdoors all day, then I'll use a mineral sunscreen which has ingredients like zinc oxide on my face and exposed skin. And if I'm going to be indoors, I'll use more of a chemical sunscreen, one that rubs in a little bit nicer and doesn't leave a white cast so much if I'm indoors. But every day you need to apply it and reapply it every 2 hours or so. We believe that Watskin and ultraviolet protective clothing (UPF) is really critical in our fight at preventing more skin cancers and more melanomas. Watskin is an amazing brand. The founder, Lois Robbins, had her own diagnosis with skin cancer and then launched a brand in 2018, after her own diagnosis and really trying to understand how to implement the most sun-protective clothing in her day-to-day life.

We find Watskin is one of our favorite partners; it's really stylish and if you'll have it, a sexy brand, great swimwear and sun safety clothing for women and children. Just this spring they launched their latest collection for moms and daughters. So, if you haven't visited and checked it out, I encourage everyone to visit it. It really is an amazing stylish UPF clothing line that you can wear year-round. But importantly we like to encourage people to use it when they're going outdoors during May and during the summer months but it's a great brand whether you're skiing in the winter, or whether you're coming out of the pool or the beach in the summer. The Watskin is a really fabulous up if clothing brand that my own family members are our customers and an aunt and a niece who are avid outdoors people down in Florida love it and wear it wear routinely throughout the year.

Dermatology Times: Do you have any closing thoughts regarding Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month?

Hurlbert: I think in closing I really would like to remind the audience that everyone can get melanoma, no matter. your race or ethnicity or background. Yes, having paler skin and red hair and blue eyes like I have you know is a risk factor for melanoma among lighter skin populations, but anyone, any race or ethnicity, can get melanoma. Specifically for their dermatologists please be mindful of acral melanoma, acral lentiginous, which can occur on the palms of the hands or the soul that feet, and these are proportionately more common in populations of color. We see these rare melanomas more often in patients with Black, Hispanic, or Asian ancestry. And so just encourage and remind the dermatology audience that any patient can get melanoma and to do the proper skin checks

[Transcript lightly edited for space and clarity]

Reference

1. About MRA. The Melanoma Research Alliance. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.curemelanoma.org/mra-overview/mra-overview