[History of the Journées Dermatologiques de Paris]

Founded in 1801 at the Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris, under Jean-Louis Alibert, the French School of Dermatology was initially structured around the French Society of Dermatology (1889) and the organization of two world congresses (Paris 1889, 1900). After World War I, the creation of dermatological societies in the provinces infused French dermatology with new energy. In 1922, the first congress of the French-speaking dermatologists further contributed to the public profile of dermatologists in France. The "Journées de Mars" were initiated in 1961 at the Hôpital Saint-Louis, and in 1975 they went on to become the "Journées dermatologiques de Paris". Pr. Jean Civatte played a key role in their creation and in their organization for 30 years. After 1979, since actual patients could no longer be presented, the organizers of the congress had to change the content of the meeting from clinical presentations to post-graduate teaching and clinical research. From its origins in the form of meetings of French dermatologists in an intimate setting at the Hôpital Saint-Louis, the "Journées dermatologiques de Paris" grew within the ensuing decades into a major scientific event of the French-speaking dermatological community, bringing together more than 4000 participants in December each year.