The history of joint scientific meetings for Investigative Dermatology begins in 1985 when the JSID and the SID held a joint meeting in Washington, DC. In the following year a joint meeting between the ESDR and SID was held in Geneva, Switzerland. These two meetings highlighted the advantage of “unity” for all of investigative dermatology.

In 1989 the first “Tri-Continental” Meeting of the ESDR, JSID, and SID took place in Washington, DC. This meeting brought together scientists from the three societies with a plan to continue meeting every five years, alternating among sites in Japan, Europe, and the United States.