The Value of RAD, According to Clinicians

The 2025 Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) Conference made its mark on Music City this year in Nashville, Tennessee. The disease-specific meeting continued its tradition of spotlighting the latest advancements in atopic dermatitis (AD) through expert-led sessions.

One of the key features of RAD is its lineup of presenters, who dive into the specifics of the latest treatment updates, research advancements, and successful case studies. To best capture the impact of RAD, specifically from an expert’s point of view, Dermatology Times asked presenters, “What is the value of a disease-specific meeting such as RAD?”

Christopher Bunick, MD, PhD

Christopher G. Bunick, MD, PhD

Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

"Disease-focused meetings are an incredible opportunity for in-depth learning about all aspects of that disease. In the case of RAD, this meeting gives learners at any level an opportunity to hear about each aspect of atopic dermatitis, including the patient experience, patient clinical presentation, patient workup, and therapeutic options ranging from topicals to advanced systemic therapies. RAD makes time to cover the mechanisms of how AD therapies work and the clinical trial data behind their patient use. Focused meetings also facilitate a deeper dive into the nuances behind the clinical evaluation and treatment decision-making that goes into the care of the patient with atopic dermatitis. It also enables time to discuss future innovations and why those innovations are occurring. In the end, RAD helps all learners feel like experts in managing atopic dermatitis."

Brad Glick, DO, MPH, FAAD

Brad Glick, DO, MPH, FAAD

Glick Skin Institute, Wellington, Florida

"I think a meeting like RAD, which focuses on atopic dermatitis and related disease states, is critical for all of our understanding, not only of how patients present clinically but how we hone in on the proper therapeutic interventions for people with this condition."

Tiffany Mayo, MD

Tiffany Mayo, MD

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

"There are so many new treatments coming out that we’re often left with questions such as, “When do I treat certain patients? When do I choose certain medications?” But as we start to understand treatments, we start to understand more about the disease and nuances of the disease. Even though I’ve been to several meetings over the past month, being at RAD, talking specifically about atopic dermatitis, all the treatments for atopic dermatitis, the different phenotypes, and patient populations, helped us start to understand who we should be selecting for certain treatments—things we should be considering for our different patient populations—to make sure we’re actually treating and counseling them adequately. We need to make sure that we’re giving better complete care for our patients and that we have a complete understanding of the disease state."

Lisa Swanson, MD

Lisa Swanson, MD

Ada West Dermatology, Boise, Idaho

"I’m a first-timer here at RAD, and I’m loving it. I love it because, as a pediatric dermatologist, I spend 25% of my day talking about atopic dermatitis. I live and breathe AD, all day, every day, so coming to a meeting devoted to that topic has been very educational and informative. I’m soaking it all up and living the dream. I love it because atopic dermatitis, that’s what I do."

Gil Yosipovitch, MD

Gil Yosipovitch, MD

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida

"I like RAD because I think it emphasizes a lot of components of inflammation in the skin. Atopic dermatitis is a hallmark condition where inflammatory immune systems work with nerves, and therefore, we can learn a lot from RAD to treat other conditions that involve inflammation of the skin. Although the focus is on atopic dermatitis, I think we also benefit from understanding that itch is a very strong component of other dermatoses."

JiaDe Yu, MD

JiaDe Yu, MD

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

"RAD is an amazing conference because it brings together all the clinicians, experts, and industry partners here and internationally who care about atopic dermatitis. We’re all here for the same mission, which is to improve our patients’ lives. We’re here to talk about advances. We’re here to talk about current management practices. We’re here to teach people who may be less familiar with AD all that we know about AD. I think with these disease-specific conferences, you come in knowing some things, and you walk out knowing a lot more. It’s probably one of the most valuable educational experiences I can think of."

Matthew Zirwas, MD

Matthew Zirwas, MD

Bexley Dermatology, Bexley, Ohio

"The value of RAD from a personal perspective is it’s almost indescribably rare to me that when I’m on a stage talking about atopic dermatitis, the other people on stage know more than I do, and the people in the audience know enough about atopic dermatitis that they can tell that those people on stage know more than I do. So the idea of bringing together the people on the industry side, the people on the clinical trial side, and the people in the trenches taking care of these patients—bringing them all together in one place—is unique in a way that allows a lot of cross-pollination to happen that really you can’t get at a general dermatology meeting."