The 6th Congress of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology, held in Athens, Greece (16-19 June 2010), focused on the most recent advances in the field of melanoma, epithelial skin cancers and other malignant skin tumors. Under the theme 'transforming care through personalized medicine', the scientific program reviewed and discussed the significant changes that are currently taking place in many aspects of skin cancer care, from risk prediction and prevention to the use of targeted treatments. This article highlights the key messages from selected presentations that feature the remarkable progress in our understanding of the pathogenesis of skin malignancies and the rapid 'translation' of this knowledge into new effective treatments in clinical practice.