along with the

Present the 2013 Vascular Birthmarks Conference
with Dr. J. Stuart Nelson and Dr. Martin Mihm Jr, Conference Directors

VBF is very excited to announce that despite the economy the Port Wine Stain and Vascular Birthmarks Conference will be held once again in Irvine, California on Saturday, October 12th. This conference will take place at the Beckman Laser Institute in Irvine, and at the Island Hotel minutes away in Newport Beach, California. Families should fly into the John Wayne Airport (closest to the event). There is no shuttle to the hotel, but a bus or cab is only around $20. LAX airport is another option, and flights may be cheaper to that airport, but it is a little farther and families will be responsible for getting to the hotel from the airport.

The Beckman Laser Institute, and Syneron, Inc. will be sponsors of this year’s conference.

This year, the first 50 families that register will have meals included and FREE lodging for Friday night at the Island Hotel, www.islandhotel.com. FREE Lodging for Friday night is only available to those that are at least a one hour commute from the Island Hotel. In addition, the conference fee is only $100 per family and this includes conference attendance and clinic appointment. Anyone who cannot pay the clinic or conference fee can request that the fees be waived. If you are requesting a waiver, please DO NOT register online with your credit card information or your card will be charged the $100. To request a waiver, please first contact Basia Joyce at basia@birthmark.org. Once your waiver is granted, you will be instructed to fill out the mail in registration form below and either scan and email it to Basia or send via mail to VBF. In the event that you need to cancel your registration, you will be refunded 75% of your registration fee. ($25, which is considered a deposit, is non-refundable).

PLEASE NOTE: When you register for the conference, you MUST email Basia Joyce (basia@birthmark.org) a photo of the birthmark for the clinic folder. Without a photo you will not receive a clinic appointment.

To request a FREE hotel room, either:
1. Call the hotel directly at (888) 321-4752 and reference the “Vascular Birthmarks Foundation” or
2. Click on the following link to reserve your free room online: https://booking.ihotelier.com/istay/istay.jsp?groupID=985127&hotelID=6406

IMPORTANT: The hotel will not confirm your free room until they verify with Basia Joyce that you are registered for the conference. If you have any concerns about receiving a free room, feel free to contact Basia at basia@birthmark.org. She can let you know if we are near capacity or if we still have many free rooms available.

If you are one of the first 50 families, you will receive Friday night, October 11, 2013 at no cost. If you want to stay additional nights, you must pay $205 plus tax per night. The hotel will honor this discounted rate of $205 plus tax per night for 3 days prior to October 12, 2013 and 3 days after October 12, 2013.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
• You must be registered to attend the conference in order to receive a FREE room
• If you take a FREE room and do not show up at the conference, your credit card will be charged for the room
• If you book a free room and do not show up and do not cancel prior, your credit card will be charged for the room

Families attending will hear the latest on diagnosis and treatment from vascular birthmarks experts. The conference itinerary can be viewed at the link below.

There will be six clinic teams this year. The hemangioma team will be headed by Dr. Milton Waner, the malformations of the head and neck area team will be headed by Dr. Gregory Levitin, the extremity and internal malformations team will be headed by Dr. Robert Rosen and the PWS team will be headed by Dr. Stuart Nelson and Dr. Roy Geronemus. In addition, Dr. Anne Comi will head the SWS team and Dr. Kami Delfanian will head up the KTS team.

Participating families will receive an expert diagnosis and treatment plan that they would otherwise have a difficult time receiving. The philosophy of VBF is that families don’t ask to have a child born with a vascular birthmark and so we try to make it as affordable as possible, even providing a free night of lodging on Friday evening. We raise money all year long to pay for families to attend our conference. We are the only birthmark charity group in the world that provides no cost clinic and conference participation to families who cannot afford and we are the only group that pays for lodging.

During these tough economic times, VBF is working harder to raise money so that families with children with vascular birthmarks can still attend and get an accurate treatment plan. We are very excited about research that will be presented that will help people with port wine stains have a better treatment result.

We do not have confirmation yet but we are hoping to offer a free laser treatment to anyone outside of Southern California who is attending the conference. We will update this information when we have a confirmation.

Free daycare is also provided. If you have any questions regarding this year’s conference please contact VBF Executive Assistant: Basia Joyce at (518) 495-3938, basia@birthmark.org

To view the conference itinerary, please click here

To register online to attend this conference, please click here

To download a printable, mail in registration form please click here

If you can not attend but would like to make a donation to VBF, please click here