Every time I think of Marta Rendon, I smile…before, now and forever more.
Simply put, Marta brought joy. To her family; her handsome son, Juan, her long-time life partner, Dr. Bret Ribotsky and her siblings. To her patients. To her business partners and employees of her practice. To any and every dermatologist throughout the US and abroad that she supported and mentored. To those of us in dermatology pharma. She was always willing to help our industry from being an extremely competent clinical investigator to being willing to go on road trips educating media about pigmentary disorders in English and in the most beautiful Columbian Spanish. She loved her chosen profession and was very proud to share her knowledge and expertise.
Marta was patient, kind and full of energy and enthusiasm. And she was so very good at what she did. She was truly an expert in pigmentary disorders. After a long day of talks, she would be the last speaker on the agenda at the South Beach Symposium speaking about melanoma. There would be a crowd of doctors waiting to ask question upon question well after the program was over and happy hour started. But Marta always patiently answered each question. She had great skill not only in giving presentations but also in creating those presentations. She loved adding unique graphics and sound to make her talks more compelling. She took a great deal of pride in being able to teach about her passion…dermatology.
She was an excellent clinical investigator. She was a welcome partner to industry by providing good ideas to our medical affairs department to help make a clinical study more relevant. She took great pride in her role as a researcher. She recruited the right patients, conducted the studies with professionalism and the end result was clean data….no FDA audits here.
She was a founding member of the Pigmentary Disorder Academy, an international group of dermatologists whose goal was to identify issues surrounding the challenges of identifying and treating pigmentary disorders. Marta was in her element with this group of experts. She was confident and knowledgeable and also great friends with the whole group. She never met a stranger.
I have known Marta for over 20 years. I met her son Juan when he was just 5 years old. As a single mother, she brought him everywhere. He came to an advisory board meeting with Marta that first time. Juan grew up with all of us in dermatology…doctors and industry alike. We are all just as proud of how well he has turned out to be as his Mom was. My deepest sympathies go out to Juan over the loss of his beloved Mother.
I consider myself to be blessed to have been her friend all of these years. That smile and her infectious personality will stay with me forever.
Mary Madden
Associate Director Professional Relations (Retired)
Galderma Laboratories, LP
