Vanderbilt Health will host “SCAR 2026: Stronger Together,” a 1.5-day scientific meeting on severe cutaneous adverse reactions, May 18-19, at Holiday Inn Nashville-Vanderbilt, 2613 West End Avenue. The meeting is free to attend, in person or virtually, and is open to patients, caregivers, health care professionals and researchers. Registration is available online.
Severe cutaneous adverse reactions, or SCAR, are rare but life-threatening drug-induced conditions that include SJS/TEN (Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis) and DRESS (drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms). They affect both adults and children, often leave survivors with long-term disabilities and a lasting fear of taking new medications, and can arise from drugs used to treat conditions of major global health importance, including tuberculosis and leprosy. Because care depends on highly coordinated input from dermatology, critical care, ophthalmology, allergy and immunology, infectious diseases, pharmacology and mental health, opportunities to bring these communities together are central to advancing prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
SCAR 2026 builds on National Institutes of Health-funded SJS/TEN meetings held in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023, and the DRESS 2022 meeting. SCAR 2026 is the first meeting to unite both fields in a single forum. Sessions will address gaps in SCAR research, controversies in prevention and diagnosis, risk stratification and outcomes, pediatric versus adult disease, SCAR linked to immunomodulatory drugs such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, single-cell and spatial approaches to immunopathology, global SCAR registries and cohorts, ocular and other long-term complications, and survivorship. Two community-focused panels will focus on the experiences of patients and caregivers, and the program is designed to offer mentorship and networking opportunities for early-career investigators.
The meeting will feature 36 speakers from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America. It is supported by a National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases conference grant (award 1R13AR085978) to Elizabeth Phillips, MD, professor of Medicine and holder of the John A. Oats Chair in Clinical Research, who will deliver the opening remarks and moderate several sessions.
To register, use the online form.