The Blade and Light Society was founded in 2003 by Murad Alam, MD and Hayes B. Gladstone, MD. Dr.Alam was the Director of Cutaneous Surgery at Northwestern University and Dr. Gladstone was the Director of Dermatologic Surgery at Stanford University. The organization’s purpose was to create mentorship and networking for young dermatologic surgeons; to encourage collaborative, multi-center evidence based research in dermatologic surgery; and to perform volunteer mohs surgery for skin cancer in underserved regions of the world.
Over the past decade, the Blade and Light Society has sent individual or teams of dermatologic surgeons to perform and teach Mohs surgery to the following countries: Philippines; Chile (3), Romania (2); Costa Rica; Columbia; Greece; South Africa. The organization has also brought a complex skin cancer patient to Stanford to receive mulit-disciplinary treatment.
As the Society has grown, it was decided to have the international volunteer portion of Blade and Light branch off into its own entity. This would enable Blade and Light International to expand the number of surgical trips, increase the number of procedures provided, increase the number of volunteers, and fulfill Blade and Light’s mission. The Blade and Light Society and Blade and Light International remain closely aligned.