The Thomas B Fitzpatrick Medal is a new IFPCS Award dedicated to the memory of late Thomas B Fitzpatrick, Edward C Wigglesworth Professor of Dermatology, Chairman Emeritus, Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and selected by the IFPCS as an international recognition of outstanding contributions to the basic and clinical research on pigment cells and malignant melanoma.

It is for the best publication in the previous three years in the journal Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, the official journal of the IFPCS and SMR. The award will be made based upon the decision of editorial board of PCMR and will be given, in principle, every three years during the IPCC following the indicated selection process.

This award has been made possible thanks to a most generous donation of Prof. Kowichi Jimbow, the Chair of the Organizing Committee of the XXth International Pigment Cell Conference, in Sapporo (Japan), where the first Thomas B Fitzpatrick Medal was awarded to Heinz Arnheiter (MDS, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA).