Korean Dermatological Association

The Korean Dermatological Association (KDA) was founded on October 27, 1945. The first annual meeting was held on November 15, 1947, and meetings have been held twice a year since 1975. The KDA 50th Annual Spring Meeting was on April 15-16, 1998. Korean Journal of Dermatology, the official journal of the KDA, was first published in 1960 and has been published bimonthly since 1978. Annals of Dermatology (Seoul), the English journal, was first published in 1989 and has been published quarterly since 1995. The American residency and specialty board system was introduced in 1954. Board specialty examination of dermatology candidates by the KDA requires four years of residency. Three hundred and twenty residents are now in the training course in the fifty-nine resident training approved hospitals this year. KDA has seven regional dermatological societies; Seoul, Pusan, Taegu, Honam, Chungchong, Jeonbuk, and Kangwon. KDA has had eleven research subcommittees since 1981. There are two associated societies of the KDA; the Korean Society for Investigative Dermatology was founded in 1991, and the Korean Society for Medical Mycology was founded in 1994. The Korea-Japan Joint Meeting of Dermatology has been held every two years since 1979 and the Korea-China Joint Meeting of Dermatology and Mycology has been held since 1996. About three hundred papers were presented at the 49th Annual Autumn Meeting on October 21-23, 1997. These included special lectures, invited lectures, educational lectures, oral presentations, and posters. About five hundred dermatologists participated in that meeting. KDA joined the International League of Dermatological Societies in 1973 with forty-seven members. There are around 1200 members of the KDA including 320 residents in 1998.