Join us on June 25th National Vitiligo Day!

Join us in supporting vitiligo research at UC Irvine on June 25, National Vitiligo Day!

Vitiligo affects 4 percent of the population, or about 70 million people, worldwide. Vitiligo is an abnormality of the immune system that causes the skin to lose its normal pigment, resulting in white patches, especially on the face, hands and feet. While vitiligo is not life-threatening or contagious, it can cause psychologically devastating effects and hardships for patients, from depression and social stigma over their appearance to discrimination in the workplace and problems with relationships. In celebration of National Vitiligo Day, we invite you to join us in creating awareness and raising support for vitiligo research at UC Irvine.

UCI Health is a national leader and Orange County’s only academic health system. We stop at nothing to enhance healthcare for each of our patients today and for generations to come. The Ganesan Laboratory at UC Irvine is dedicated to conducting innovative research to develop the latest treatment and therapies to help those affected by vitiligo. In the past year with philanthropic support, the Ganesan Laboratory made monumental strides to advance vitiligo research:

• Developed the first-of-its-kind clinical trial which evaluates the next generation of vitiligo therapies in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies. We leverage these relationships and the experimental tools developed at UC Irvine to engineer even better therapies.
• Identified unique characteristics of stable vitiligo skin disease through advanced imaging, which has led to designing new vitiligo therapies (patent pending).
• UCI Health dermatologists, Dr. Anand Ganesan and Dr. Jessica Shiu, were part of the team that helped to create the topical treatment for vitiligo. In addition to the work on Opzelura, Ganesan and Shiu are running other pharmaceutical trials on oral medications and surgical treatments for vitiligo.
• Dr. Anand Ganesan and Dr. Jessica Shiu are site principal investigators on a groundbreaking NIH-sponsored trial investigating the first biologic therapy for vitiligo.

Every day Dr. Ganesan and his team work hard to identify more effective vitiligo treatments through innovative research and clinical trials. Currently, they have ongoing studies in oral, injectable and surgical therapies for the condition. It is their hope to create a healthier and happier tomorrow for patients and ultimately expand access to specialized vitiligo care. We hope you will help make this vision a reality, with a donation to support the groundbreaking vitiligo research at UCI Health.

To learn more about the Department of Dermatology and opportunities to support, contact Carley Fox at foxc@uci.edu or (714) 456-6226.