Outgoing AAD President Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD, Reflects on Challenges, Advocacy, and the Future of Dermatology

Earlier this year, Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD, concluded his term as president of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), marking a tenure defined by advocacy, unity, and vision for the future of the specialty. In an exclusive article for Dermatology Times, Desai recently outlined 3 pivotal issues that will shape dermatology in 2025 and beyond: Medicare reimbursement reform, board-certification awareness, and balancing technological advances with patient-centered care.

Following his written reflection, Dermatology Times spoke with Desai to go deeper into the policies, innovations, and personal convictions that defined his leadership and continue to shape his outlook. In this extended Q&A, Desai elaborates on the challenges he tackled as president and what he hopes dermatologists and their patients will see in the years ahead.

Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD

Q&A With Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD

Q1: Medicare Reimbursement Challenges

You highlighted the ongoing issue of declining Medicare reimbursement rates and its impact on patient access to care. What immediate policy changes would you recommend to address this issue, and how can dermatology professionals better advocate for these changes?

Desai: "In terms of policy change, we've got to have congressional legislation that fixes the budget neutrality requirements and allows for an inflationary-based update to the annual physician fee schedule. That is absolutely fundamental.

Dermatologists have to be laser-focused on sharing a unified message about the fact that patient care access is threatened due to the continual Medicare cuts to the point where patients are going to lose access to seeing dermatologists for life-saving treatments for skin cancers, inflammatory diseases, and so much more, because doctors can no longer sustain even keeping their offices open to see patients at the way the drastic cuts keep happening. To also further put this in context, this affects patients seeing doctors of all specialties across medicine, not just dermatologists.

Dermatologists can really be involved by getting actively involved in the American Academy of Dermatology AADA legislative efforts, including attending the AADA legislative conference in September in Washington DC, writing to their elected officials at the state and national level—even though this is a federal issue, increasing awareness among state legislators is still very important—and always responding to advocacy alerts from the Academy.

We also need to make sure we mobilize the voices of our patients; this is critically important. Our patients are the ones who can tell the story the best, because they're the ones who are suffering and need the treatment. We've got to get patients to also contact their elected officials, go to social media, talk about how their access to their doctor is being threatened, because the system has failed to act."

Q2: Raising Awareness for Board-Certified Dermatologists

How can the dermatology community strengthen its public messaging to emphasize the value of board-certified specialists while also championing collaborative efforts with other medical providers?

Desai: "Collaboration in health care is always important. Board-certified dermatologists are the true experts of skin, hair, and nail diseases. They are the leaders of the dermatology care team, and that care team includes so many other components of the health care patient delivery focus, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants are certainly valuable members of the care team, and they should be able to serve patient needs under the leadership of a board-certified dermatologist who is the leader of the care team.

I think that model is where we set ourselves up for the best success, because we can improve access to care by having NPs and PAs deliver care under the supervision of a board-certified dermatologist. We've got to let the public know that whenever they're dealing with a skin, hair, or nail issue, that they have to see a board-certified dermatologist who is the true expert, having done the most amount of training, the most years of education, the continuing medical education, and has the true understanding of skin, hair, and nail disease."

Q3: Balancing Technology with Patient Care

Can you elaborate on how dermatologists can integrate AI into practice without losing the personal touch that is essential for patient relationships?

Desai: "My personal opinion is that augmented intelligence is never going to replace the true value of the physician-patient interaction between board-certified dermatologists and patients. In my mind, augmented intelligence is something that we can leverage to help deliver health care in a more efficient way. We should always make sure that that sanctity of the physician-patient relationship is preserved and that we always use augmented intelligence in the highest quality way to support our patient practices—not to replace our patient practices."

Q4: Impact of Technological Advancements

As dermatology continues to evolve with new technologies and treatments, what innovations are you most excited about, and which do you think will have the biggest impact on patient outcomes in the next 5 to 10 years?

Desai: "What I'm most excited about is the continual clinical research that's being done to bring forward FDA-approved therapies for skin, hair, and nail diseases where we've never had any treatments before. What I specifically mean by that is: Let's think of diseases like vitiligo and alopecia areata, hidradenitis suppurativa, prurigo nodularis, and the list goes on—diseases where we've never been able to have FDA-approved treatments—are getting so much research right now.

If you're a patient suffering from one of these diseases, now, more than ever, is the “right time” to have a disease like these, because we have so much hope on the horizon, versus had you had that disease and presented 10 years ago, 15 years ago, even 5 years ago."

Q5: Vision for the Future of Dermatology

As the outgoing president of the AAD, what do you hope to see in the future of dermatology, particularly in terms of addressing the challenges you've discussed?

Desai: "What I'd like to remind our members is that I hope that this revolutionary work that I was able to do during my presidency is something that people are happy about, that they appreciate and value, and I'm very grateful for the support of my colleagues throughout an extremely challenging time in medicine.

My hope is that the theme of my entire year as AAD president which was Unity of our Specialty. My tagline was, “Let unity of our specialty be our guiding principle.” My hope is that spirit never fades, no matter who our leaders are, and no matter what direction health care goes, that if we remain united as dermatologists and focus on the things that we truly believe in together, the sky's the limit, and I think we will continue to be successful."

Read more from Desai’s exclusive reflection: Exclusive: Outgoing AAD President Seemal Desai, MD, FAAD, on the 3 Issues That Will Shape Dermatology in 2025 and Beyond