The International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies (IFPCS) has established the IFPCS Women and Minority Scientists Committee to serve in an advisory role to the IFPCS to help promote women’s and minority’s issues in the field of pigment cell research. The Chair and members appointed to this IFPCS Women and Minority Scientists Committee are:

Prof. Rashmi Sarkar (ASPCR) – Chair

Prof. Caroline Le Poole (PASPCR)

Prof. Chikako Nishigori (JSPCR)

Prof. Marie-Dominique Galibert (ESPCR)

Please contact them if you would like further information or have concerns to be addressed. Please submit your messages to women@ifpcs.org

Following is the initial report of this group. In order to ensure that all IFPCS meetings in the future adequately represent the diverse composition of our membership, it is recommended that:

  • The planning and organization committees for such meetings be minimally comprised of 20% women.
  • The scientific program for these meetings should include at least 25% women as keynote speakers, platform presenters, and poster presenters.
  • When awards are to be presented at such meetings, concerted efforts should be made to include women as potential recipients of awards whenever possible.
  • Accordingly, women should be included as members of any of the decision-making committees for awards.
  • At banquets or other public forums, women should be represented as members of the platform parties and/or presentation groups.
  • Similarly, in all of these areas, conscious efforts should be made to avoid underrepresentation of scientists from minority groups.
  • Finally, we also recommend that the existence of the Women Scientists Committee be made known to Society members by means of entries in the newsletters and/or web sites of the three Societies. Information can be obtained from any of the Committee members, and members with concerns should feel free to contact any of us.

Sessions organized by this group generally take place at IPCC meetings