The Melanoma World Society (MWS) is the successor organization to the WHO Melanoma Group. The latter established the World Congress of Melanoma in the years 1985-2005, conducted trials and other projects with melanoma patients. The WHO Melanoma Group was disbanded in 2005, as WHO no longer financially supported such expert groups. MWS was initiated at the 8th World Congress of Melanoma 2013 in Hamburg, founded in June 2014 in Munich, and registered in January 2016.
The following missions will guide the activities of the MWS:
Improve Medical Education
MWS will host the World Congress of Melanoma every four years, following the tradition since 1985. MWS will care for grants in order to make attendance of physicians from developing countries possible. MWS will organise the World Meeting of Melanoma/Skin Cancer Centers annually during the years between the World Congress of Melanoma. MWS will support educational meetings in countries with less experience in melanoma diagnosis and treatment.
Improve Guideline Development
MWS intends to unify diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in melanoma worldwide. MWS will establish a MELANOMA KNOWLEDGE DATABASE (MKD), which contains all relevant articles for evidence based medicine in melanoma, and additionally evidence tables of these articles. MKD will be accessible for all national guideline groups. MWS will organize international expert meetings in order to develop recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of melanoma in the rapidly changing landscape.
Improve Patient’s Access to New Treatments
MWS intends to provide melanoma patients worldwide access to new and more efficacious treatments. MWS will address governments in order to achieve a more rapid reimbursement of new treatments. MWS will address pharmaceutical companies in order to achieve access to new treatment modalities in countries, where high costs cannot be reimbursed.
Improve Clinical Research in Melanoma
MWS will coordinate clinical research activities in melanoma internationally. MWS will perform international clinical trials in indications, which are not investigated by the pharmaceutical industries. MWS will support international expert meetings in order to coordinate clinical research.
Further information is available online at www.melanomaworldsociety.org.