Contact dermatitis research groups

Abstract

This textbook was the initiative of the members of the European Environmental and Contact Dermatitis Research Group (EECDRG). The EECDRG, founded in 1985, had publishing a textbook and founding a society focused on contact dermatitis as their main goals. Rightly, they felt that promotion of knowledge of contact dermatitis was of immense importance. Their second goal, founding of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis (ESCD), was established in 1988 in a meeting at the end of a contact dermatitis congress organized by Peter Frosch in Heidelberg. The first official congress of the ESCD was organized by Jean-Marie Lachapelle in Brussels, in 1992 (Chap. 1). The first edition of the textbook was published in the same year. The Society has since held every second year a congress and organized meetings and courses to disseminate expertise and knowledge to make young colleagues enthusiastic about the clinical and experimental aspects of contact dermatitis. At these well-attended congresses, the opportunities for making professional contacts and friends the essential network, are great. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.