🇨🇦 Toronto woke up glowing on June 25, 2025.

Before most people topped off their second coffee, advocate Omar Sharife and dermatologist Dr Sam Hanna tag-teamed Global News Morning and CP24’s Wellness Wednesday, serving brisk talk on AI skin scans and self-confidence to roughly 200 000 live viewers. TikTok beat the live TV to the punch, pushing a curated “World Vitiligo Day Celebrations Worldwide” page onto its trending shelf and splashing the cause across more than 40 million screens even before microphones powered up at the summit.

Inside the MaRS buzz

The MaRS Discovery District event ran on three speeds — fast, faster and “where-did-the-time-go.”

• Star panels & keynotes – Dermatology favourites Dr Nanette Silverberg and Dr Geeta Yadav unpacked childhood vitiligo, AI diagnostics, relapse prevention and shade-inclusive cosmetics, while on-site psychotherapists offered mental-health drop-ins.
• Startup showcase & abstract slam – Seven rapid-fire pitches, brighter ideas and a sea of QR codes.
• Creative breaks – A tear-jerking screening of Calico, live camouflage-makeup demos, an art corridor, and hallways buzzing with selfies and business-card swaps.

Broadcast legend Lee Thomas (author of Turning White and 4x Emmy winner) stilled the room with his journey of reporting the news while watching his own skin change, then reignited the crowd with hope for AI-assisted therapy.

A rocket-fuel moment

Valle’s four-minute keynote distilled fifteen years into liftoff lore, with his unmistakable Russian-lilted baritone:

“Since the late 2000s, quite a few people dreamt of launching a global vitiligo campaign. Some had passion, some had plans—but, like backyard rocket enthusiasts, most never quite made it into orbit. We built that rocket and lifted it off the ground in 2012. Year after year, country after country, the campaign gained altitude until it became the movement we celebrate today. But let’s be honest — we didn’t do it alone. To everyone who tried before us: thank you. Your early sparks lit the path. Your attempts, even the failed ones, showed us what was possible.”

The applause rattled glass walls of the spacious hall.

Morning through twilight 

9 am – “Mapping the Vitiligo Journey” dissected the path from late-night Google search to clinical trial, moderated by Valle.
10 am – Incyte Canada’s Christine Lennon introduced patient-support tools “beyond the prescription.”
11 am – Startup showcase: Baüne’s Human Digital Twin, Edesa Biotech’s immune modulators, PharmaGuide’s pocket trials, plus four more Canadian innovators.
1 pm – Abstract competition: from Sudanese histology to a Rochester study on teenage identity.
2 pm – Dr Colin Hong translated “computer code to compassionate care.”
3 pm – Calico left few dry eyes as a teenage heroine chatted with a school goldfish about self-acceptance.
4 pm – Cosmetics panel debated camouflage versus bare skin.
4:55 pm – Drum-roll reveal: World Vitiligo Day 2026 is heading to Chandigarh, India, under Prof. Davinder Parsad.

Community heartbeat 

• Vitiligo Voices Canada, the Canadian Skin Patient Alliance and champions like Shahnawaz Towheed, Parsa Abdi, Dana Gies, Hessa Asmani kept empathy centred—moderating panels, pushing mental-health-first care and launching a 24/7 Discord.
• Aiesha Robinson’s raw, vulnerable talk drew tears; Erika Page Bush handed the mic to radical self-acceptance.
• Researchers Gabriela Guerra and Alejandro Vera mapped the road to truly personalised dermatology.

Sparkle, science and swag

The second WVD Art Competition drew 30-plus works from 18 countries. Serbian artist Goran Miladich won the AI crown with Native Harmony; Brazil’s Gabriela Guerra de Almeida captured the non-AI prize with Travessia (Crossing). Zanderm covered the 500-dollar cheques—and the coffee. Hessa Asmani’s poster on community-led research topped the abstract ring, with all voting funnelled through Skinopathy’s brand-new WVD app that doubled as livestream hub and audience microphone.

High-five corner

Hats off to Dr Colin Hong, Keith Loo, Hannah Chan MD, happiness PhD Gillian Mandich and super-connector Orchid Jahanshahi. Kudos to sponsors Incyte, Zanderm, Shiseido Canada, Edesa Biotech—and collaborators from the Aksenov Family Foundation to Toronto Tech Week—for turning bold ideas into a purple-hued reality.

Evening glow

At 9:30 pm, thirty-five Canadian landmarks—from the CN Tower to Niagara Falls—bathed themselves in violet for a full hour. Social feeds shimmered; Lake Ontario mirrored a lavender ribbon stretching past Queens Quay.

Looking ahead

Toronto proved AI panels, genome talks and gallery art can thrive under one spotlight. Yet the story rolls on: Hilton Tampa Downtown hosts “Beyond the Surface: Redefining Vitiligo” from 27–29 June, complete with Camp Victory for kids, a Havana-nights gala and a fireside chat with supermodel Winnie Harlow, fresh from her Madame Tussauds reveal.

Fifteen years ago, the cause launched from a borrowed hall in Rome; today it cruises at orbital speed, driven by clinicians, coders, poets and those who once failed but tried anyway. As dusk slipped over Toronto, Valle clinked glasses with exhausted volunteers. “We’re still the scrappy rocket club,” he laughed, “but now we’re aiming for Mars.”

The countdown to Chandigarh has already begun! 🇮🇳✈️

Keep digging

• History of the World Vitiligo Day 
• World Vitiligo Day Media Stats: 60M+ screens on June 25 alone
• Vitiligo Patient Journey Map

 

 

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  TV: GlobalNews Toronto on World Vitiligo Day 2025 (6 min)