Cairns is turning a locally conceived medical meeting into an international business events opportunity, with the inaugural Australasian Dermoscopy Meeting bringing clinicians from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South America and the United States to Tropical North Queensland from 8–11 October 2026.
The meeting is the first internationally recognised dermoscopy conference to be held outside the United States. Its development began with Cairns-based doctor Vin Rajeswaran (cover photo), who approached Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) with the ambition of creating a national conference using local business events expertise and suppliers.
TTNQ subsequently connected Rajeswaran with Cairns-based professional conference organiser Andrea Wicking of TPM Events, with the team working alongside Pullman Cairns International to develop and deliver the four-day programme.
The event has been endorsed by the International Dermoscopy Society, with Ashfaq Marghoob, Course Director of the meeting, also serving as Course Director for the 15th annual American Dermoscopy Meeting in 2027.
The programme is designed for clinicians across different stages of their dermoscopy careers, bringing together GPs, skin cancer doctors, dermatologists, nurses, nurse practitioners, registrars and specialists.
For Rajeswaran, however, the conference also provides an opportunity to demonstrate what Cairns can offer beyond its medical infrastructure. The fourth day will take delegates to the Great Barrier Reef, placing the destination itself within the meeting programme.
“We live in paradise and I want to encourage doctors and nurses to move to Cairns so on day four we are taking the conference to the Great Barrier Reef to showcase the destination,” Rajeswaran said.
The approach reflects a broader destination strategy in which local expertise and destination experiences become part of the value proposition of an international meeting. According to TPM Events Senior Event Manager Andrea Wicking, the project demonstrates how a locally developed idea can be scaled through collaboration between the organiser, venue and wider business events community.
“Dr Rajeswaran had the vision to create a national meeting in Cairns, and our role was to turn that vision into a conference that could stand confidently on a national and international stage,” Wicking said.
The collaboration is already generating a longer-term pipeline. Rajeswaran is planning a second Australasian Dermoscopy Meeting in Cairns for October 2027, alongside a surgical conference scheduled for April 2027.
For Cairns, the significance extends beyond the inaugural event. A medical meeting developed from within the destination, supported by local professional expertise and connected to the region’s natural assets, offers a model for how knowledge communities can become the starting point for attracting and retaining international business events.
