NAAF Receives Three Gold Triangle Awards
From The American Academy of Dermatology

On April 26th, 2001, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) hosted its Fifth Annual Gold Triangle Awards Ceremony in New York City at the New York Hilton & Towers. The AAD created these awards to celebrate the field of dermatology by recognizing the media, private industry, health organizations, and healthcare professionals for their efforts in promoting dermatology awareness and for educating the public in the care of hair, skin, and nails.

"Dermatologic conditions…have an enormous impact on those who live with these conditions. This impact is not only physical but can affect a person’s self-esteem," said Ronald G. Wheeland, M.D., President of the American Academy of Dermatology and host of the 2001 Gold Triangle Awards. "Each of our Gold Triangle winners gives people hope by raising awareness of their conditions and letting them know help and treatments are available. The potential to improve the quality of life for people throughout the country is enormous."

NAAF was the recipient of three Health Community Organization Awards this year for the media it generated in 2000. These included awards for two alopecia areata television segments, which were broadcast nationally on The Leeza Gibbons Show and across the state of Washington and parts of Canada on KCTS-PBS Channel 9 Seattle. In addition, NAAF was honored with an award for its overall 2000 Communications Campaign.

Vicki Kalabokes, Chief Executive Officer, and Renee Besta, Director of Public and Scientific Affairs, accepted the awards for the two television segments on behalf of NAAF from actress Tonja Walker-Davidson at the black tie gala event. Margaret Baker, New York City professional model and actress who has alopecia totalis, joined Renee Besta in accepting the third award for NAAF's 2000 Communications Campaign. Margaret was the subject of several media pieces in 2000, and has been very instrumental in the past in raising public awareness of alopecia areata and has appeared in numerous television segments.

The Leeza Show, hosted by television personality Leeza Gibbons, produced a segment entitled "Mysterious Illnesses Striking the Young," which aired nationwide on May 3rd and July 13th, 2000. This touching and provocative show featured the stories of three families whose children are afflicted with mysterious medical disorders. A portion of the segment focused on alopecia areata and Ranee Brown, a single mother and nursing student from the Los Angeles area, who has been struggling to raise her 7 year-old daughter Mercedes affected by alopecia totalis. As is often the unfortunate case, the child has not responded to available treatments—treatments the mother has grappled to pay for—and her insurance company has denied coverage for a hairpiece. In a very moving twist, host Leeza Gibbons surprised the audience when a member of the child's family appeared on stage and had her hair cut then donated to the Locks of Love Foundation, which had offered to custom produce a hairpiece for the child free-of-charge using the family member’s donated locks.

KCTS Channel 9 Seattle, a PBS member station, aired an alopecia areata segment on May 25, 2000 entitled KCTS Connects Episode #115: Alopecia Areata hosted by producer Susan Han. This segment educated viewers in the state of Washington and in Canada on the need for heightened understanding of alopecia areata as well as the need for increased medical research to unravel its mysteries. The segment featured interviews with Kirstie Calkins, a teen female living with alopecia universalis, members of the Seattle area alopecia areata support group, and Dr. Claire Haycox, a dermatologist from Sequim who serves as the group’s medical advisor.

NAAF is proud that 2000 was a banner year for alopecia areata media coverage, resulting in greatly increased numbers of information requests from the public as well as requests for interviews from the press. The Foundation’s 2000 Communications Campaign included more than fifty newspaper articles, fifteen national magazine stories, twenty television segments, and thirteen radio interviews/spots, many of which ran nationwide. During the Foundation’s annual conference in June 2000, a training panel was held on alopecia areata media awareness; the panel was attended by several hundred conferees. The efficacy of the media training is evident in the great success the Foundation’s volunteers have had in obtaining a record amount of press coverage in 2000. NAAF would like to thank all of its volunteers for their tremendous effort in last year’s media campaign.