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Melanoma Foundation of New England Wins Gold Triangle Award From the American Academy of Dermatology

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 General News
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"No-Tanning Pledge" Program for the Prom a Winner, Features Kelli Pedroia



CONCORD, Mass., Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Dermatology has announced that the Melanoma Foundation of New England is a 2009 recipient of its prestigious Gold Triangle Award given for "significant contributions to the specialty of dermatology." The award will be presented at the association's annual meeting in San Francisco in March of 2009.
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The Foundation won for "Your Skin Is In," its No-Tanning Pledge Program, which targets high school proms in all six New England states to alert teenagers to the dangers of tanning.
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"I was seriously into tanning when I was a teenager," says Kelli Pedroia, the spokesperson for Your Skin Is In and wife of Red Sox second-baseman Dustin Pedroia, "When the Foundation asked me to serve as its spokesperson, I jumped at the chance. There is no doubt in my mind that the tanning I did when I was a teenager resulted in the three operations I had to remove lymph nodes and cancerous melanoma when I was 21."



Over 4,000 teenagers signed the no tanning pledge in 2008. "The program was so successful that we are doing it again this year," said Foundation executive director Deb Girard. "Kelli has been central to getting the word out and she has taken the time to meet with high school kids and speak at school assemblies about the importance of being careful in the sun and staying out of tanning beds. She knows first hand what it means to suffer from melanoma, and she is able to transmit our message effectively."



Your Skin Is In is a contest that requires at least 70% of the students in the classes that are holding a prom to sign the Foundation's No-Tanning Pledge and send them in by the February 2 deadline. There are cash prizes for each state, and this year the program is being sponsored by Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital Dermatology Department, Lord & Taylor, and Six Flags New England.



To learn more about entering the Foundation's Your Skin Is In program, read the facts of melanoma and tanning or see a photo of Kelli Pedroia in her prom dress, go the Foundation's web site at www.mfne.org.





SOURCE Melanoma Foundation of New England
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