The LEO Foundation Scholarship for Dermatological Research

Grantee: Scholarship programme

Amount: DKK 2,200,000

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2012

Geography: Australia, Denmark

The LEO Foundation Scholarship for Dermatological Research aims to strengthen research collaboration within the field of skin cancer between Australia and Denmark by supporting training of and research by young scientists.

One scholarship is offered annually on behalf of the LEO Foundation, alternating between Australia and Denmark.

A candidate from Australia travels to work within a Danish tertiary institution and a Danish student is selected with a view to joining an Australian campus.

The funds received may be used as part of an ongoing PhD project or for postdoctoral research. The funds must in part support a research/educational stay in Australia of at least six months for the Danish student.

Publications

Automated detection of actinic keratoses in clinical photographs

Hames SC, Sinnya S, Tan JM, Morze C, Sahebian A, Soyer HP, Prow TW.

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 23;10(1):e0112447. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112447. eCollection 2015

Counting actinic keratosis – is photographic assessment a reliable alternative to physical examinations in clinical trials?

Sinnya S, O’Rourke P, Ballard E, Tan JM, Morze C, Sahebian A, Hames SC, Prow TW, Green AC, Soyer HP.

Acta Derm Venerol. 2015 May;95(5):604-5. doi: 10.2340/00015555-2040. No abstract avaliable

The future of keratinocyte skin cancer surveillance: automated image analysis to identify and monitor keratinocyte dysplasia

Hames SC, Prow TW.

Curr Probl Dermatol. 2015;46:77-84. doi: 10.1159/000366540. Epub 2014 Dec 18

Automated segmentation of skin strata in reflectance confocal microscopy depth stacks

Hames SC, Ardigò M, Soyer HP, Bradley AP, Prow TW.

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 18;11(4):e10153208. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153208. eCollection 2016.

Automated detection of actinic keratoses in clinical photographs

Hames SC, Sinnya S, Tan JM, Morze C, Sahebian A, Soyer HP, Prow TW.

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 23;10(1):e0112447. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112447. eCollection 2015.

Counting actinic keratosis – is photographic assessment a reliable alternative to physical examination in clinical trials?

Sinnya S, O’Rourke P, Ballard E, Tan JM, Morze C, Sahebian A, Hames SC, Prow TW, Green AC, Soyer HP.

Acta Derm Venereol. 2015 May;95(5):604-5. doi: 10.2340/00015555-2040. No abstract available.

The future of keratinocyte skin cancer surveillance: automated image analysis to identify and monitor keratinocyte dysplasia

Hames SC, Prow TW.

Curr Probl Dermatol. 2015;46:77-84. doi: 10.1159/000366540. Epub 2014 Dec 18

Anatomical skin segmentation in reflectance confocal microscopy with weak labels*

Hames SC, Ardigò M, Soyer HP, Bradley AP, Prow TW.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_aa.jsp?arnumber=7371231&tag=1

* This won the Canon Extreme Imaging Competition (DICTA category) prize in late 2015

Skin cancer awareness bus

Grantee: Danish Pharmacy Association and Professor Hans Christian Wulf, Bispebjerg University Hospital

Amount: DKK 3,042,000

Grant category: Research Grants in open competition

Year: 2011

Geography: Denmark

The LEO Foundation funded the visit of a “Skin Cancer Awareness Bus” to 30 Danish cities and 15 campsites during the summer of 2011.

This initiative was part of a national ‘keep an eye on your skin’ awareness campaign run by the Danish Pharmacy Association with Professor Hans Christian Wulf, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Denmark.

The objective of the tour was to improve awareness in the general population of potential health consequences of sun exposure (actinic keratosis (AK) and skin cancer), and to educate on preventive measures linked to skin type as well as to improve current clinical knowledge of skin type and impact of UV radiation.

On the bus, visitors could fill out a questionnaire on previous sun exposure, sunburn, AK, skin cancers, etc., as well as receive an assessment of their skin type and a UV photo depicting sun damage in underlying skin.

Awareness of AK and skin cancer is currently limited to dermatologists and general practitioners, and patients are mostly unaware of impact and symptoms – and therefore also the notion of self-checking and importance of early diagnosis.

The lack of awareness is critical given the continuously growing prevalence of AK, and the growing consensus about perceiving AK as a precursor and an early stage of squamous cell carcinoma.
Questionnaires and skin type data have been linked to each respondent’s PNR (CPR) number, facilitating future research through registry linkage to e.g. the Danish Cancer Registry, National Patient Registry, etc.