American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS)

Message from the President

Dear ACDS Member,

It is my honor to serve such a strong, committed group of physicians and providers: members of our American Contact Dermatitis Society. As we head into the spring season, I am excited and looking forward to new goals and initiatives for the society. In the coming year, we are hoping to bring to completion the long-awaited CAMP 2.0 rollout and the Sulzberger grant-funded CME-eligible contact dermatitis educational series created as a partnership between the ACDS and AAD. In addition, the board of directors and executive committee are gathering for a retreat this fall to further identify priorities and goals to remain strong and relevant in supporting our membership.

I want to give a heartfelt thank you to our outgoing President, Dr. Doug Powell. Under Doug’s thoughtful leadership and vision, the ACDS has continued to flourish and grow during the aftermath of the pandemic. I would also like to express our gratitude to our outgoing executive and board members: Drs. Amber Atwater, Alison Ehrlich, Nicole Burkemper, Ari Goldminz, and Golara Honari. We are indebted to their dedicated service and leadership. I would also like to thank Dr. Alison Ehrlich for graciously agreeing to stay on for another year to fill the one-year Board vacancy left by the election of Dr. Kari Martin as our incoming Vice President. In addition, we are excited to welcome our incoming President-Elect, Dr. Jiade “Jeff” Yu, our incoming Vice President, Dr. Kari Martin, and our new Board members, Drs. Paul Bigliardi, Marjorie Montanez-Wiskovich, and Rabina Walsh. For a complete list of the ACDS Executive Board and Board of Directors, please click here.

Meetings and Events

We were fortunate to host the ACDS 34th Annual Meeting in person on Thursday, March 16 in New Orleans. It was great seeing all those that ventured to New Orleans for an action-packed live event full of great speakers and high-yield topics.

We had 193 people join us in person, with an additional 105 people registered to access on-demand content virtually. Access to the on-demand content continues to be available through 12/31/2023; and offers up to 7.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM. If you have not yet registered, you can do so by clicking here. Please also extend a huge congratulations to all of our award winners associated with the Annual Meeting as listed below.

We look forward to seeing you in attendance this year for the ACDS Fall Meeting, October 12-14, 2023. We have a fantastic lineup and an exciting new destination - Park City, UT. In addition, we are already working on organizing the 35^th Annual Meeting in person on March 7, 2024, in San Diego. Please be on the lookout for more information about both of these exciting events!

It is my hope that you, our members, have had every opportunity to stay healthy and happy this year.

If you have member news or information you would like highlighted in a future ACDS Newsletter, please email it to info@contactderm.org.

Sincerely,

Jennifer K. Chen, MD
ACDS President

American Contact Dermatitis Society
555 E. Wells Street, Suite 1100
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone: (414) 918-9805
Fax: (414) 276-3349
Email: info@contactderm.org
www.contactderm.org

Inside this Issue

President's Message

New Leadership

34^thAnnual Meeting Highlights

CME On-Demand Access: Now Available!

2023 Annual Meeting Surveys

Report from ACDS Health Policy Committee and AMA Delegate

34^th Annual Meeting Award Recipients

Presidential Citations

2023 Annual Meeting Sponsors

ACDS 2023 Leadership Updates

We are excited to announce the results of the 2023 Board of Directors election. Congratulations to the below board members who have taken their positions effective March 17, 2023. Please join us in congratulating them on this great honor!

2023 Executive Members

JiaDe "Jeff" Yu, MD
President-Elect
Boston, MA

Kari Martin, MD
Vice President
Columbia, MO

2023 Board of Directors

Paul Lorenz Bigliardi, MD
Minneapolis, MN

Marjorie Montane-Wiscovich, MD, PhD
Newberry, FL

Rabina Walsh, MD
Durham, NC

Thank you to the following for their continued service in new roles.

Douglas Powell, MD
Immediate Past President
Salt Lake City, UT

Jennifer K. Chen, MD
President
Stanford, CA

Alison Ehrlich, MD
Board Member
Washington, DC

Thank you to the following for their leadership over the past few years. We appreciate your service!

Amber Reck Atwater, MD
Durham, NC

Nicole Burkemper, MD
St. Louis, MO

Ari Goldminz, MD
Boston, MA

Golora Honari, MD
Stanford, CA

For a complete list of the Board of Directors, please click here.

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34^th Annual Meeting Highlights

The 34^th Annual Meeting of the American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS) was held on March 16^th in New Orleans. The theme of the meeting was “Celebrating Advances in Dermatitis” and featured outstanding speakers and engaging topics. The planning committee included Chair Dr. Alexandra Flamm along with members Drs. Ama Alexis, Nicole Burkemper, Katherine Brown, Alison Ehrlich, Ari Goldminz, Matthew Hall, Clifford Bassett, Salma de la Feld, Kari Martin, and Jake Turrentine.

The meeting began with Dr. Andrew Alexis speaking during the Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sponsored morning session on the topic of atopic dermatitis and skin of color. Our ACDS President, Dr. Doug Powell, then gave the opening remarks. Next, Dr. Alexandra Flamm, the meeting chair, gave a warm welcome to the attendees and introduced Dr. Don Belsito who announced lanolin as the 2023 ACDS Allergen of the Year.

Following this, the Fisher presentations were given, with speakers discussing wide-ranging topics within the fields of atopic, contact and occupational dermatitis, including aeroallergen testing, tools to improve communication and remote analysis of patch testing, metal allergy testing, occupational hand dermatitis, trends in contact dermatitis due to cosmetics, cutaneous reactions to continuous glucose monitors, and others.

The latter half of the morning featured the first of our Hot Topic sessions, how to run a joint allergy and dermatology clinic, which as was led by Drs. Mark Boguniewicz, Lawrence Eichenfield, and Robert Sidbury, and allergen restricted diets in the setting of allergic contact dermatitis, given by Dr. Joseph Fowler. This was followed by the general session, which reviewed topics such as nickel release in hair dressing tools, use of dupilumab in hand dermatitis and co-positivity patterns in patch testing.

During the lunch session, sponsored by Dormer Laboratories, Inc. / Chemotechnique Diagnostics, Dr. Powell convened the ACDS Annual Business Meeting, acknowledging meeting sponsors and outgoing board members, recognizing current board members and welcoming new board members. He presented the Howard Maibach Travel Award to Dr. Lisa F. Kiely from Ireland. Next, Dr. Kal Watsky provided the ACDS Secretary-Treasurer's report, Dr. Margo Reeder presented a CAMP update, and Dr. Tony Gaspari, Dermatitis Editor-in-Chief, gave a Journal update.

Lunch was followed by the Alexander Fisher Lecturer, Dr. Georg Stingl, who discussed the changing views on the roles of innate and adaptive immunity within contact dermatitis. This insightful lecture reviewed how this topic has evolved and some of the important research that has led to these changing viewpoints.

This was followed by the last General Session lecture, which reviewed the North American Contact Dermatitis Group Patch Test Results from 2019 – 2020, as well as the second part of the Hot Topic sessions. In the afternoon portion of this session Alexandra Kowcz, MS, discussed cosmetic product development and Dr. Alison Ehrlich spoke on hidden allergens within nutritional supplements. Dr. Jonathan Silverberg discussed new approved therapies for treating atopic dermatitis, which was complemented with a later lecture by Dr. Andrew Blauvelt on what’s in the pipeline for treatment atopic dermatitis and other types of dermatitis. Dr. David Cohen gave an engaging lecture on what’s new regarding allergens in the workplace and Dr. Jennifer Chen gave a timely talk on skin reactions associated with diabetic devices. The Hot Topic sessions concluded with a discussion on expanding access to patch testing and care of dermatitis led by Dr. Apra Sood.

Dr. Walter Liszewski then presented the Fisher Resident and Poster awards. Congratulations to all our winners who are listed below. The meeting concluded with the Contact Allergen Bee, moderated by Drs. Nicole Burkemper and Jeff Yu; and the cocktail reception.

As a reminder, if you were unable to attend the meeting in person, all Annual Meeting presentations are available online through December 31, 2023. You may register for access here. Thank you for attending this year’s meeting and we look forward to seeing everyone next year for the 35^th Annual Meeting, which will take place March 7, 2024, in San Diego.

Submitted by:
Alex Flamm, MD, FAAD
34^th Annual Meeting Committee Chair

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On-Demand Access: Now Available!

All content from the ACDS 34^th Annual Meeting is available for viewing on-demand now through December 31, 2023. This includes the following educational lectures and poster presentations:

Alexander Fisher Lecture
Fisher Resident Presentations
General Session Presentations
Hot Topics

Access is available to all those who registered for the ACDS 34^th Annual Meeting as an in-person or virtual attendee. Click below to access the on-demand content. You must be signed in to the ACDS website to gain access.

No New Orleans? No Worries!

You can still register for access to above CME eligible contentthrough the end of 2023. Click below to register!

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Complete the Surveys!

We encourage all attendees to provide feedback by completing the individual session surveys on the mobile app or by clicking here.

Have an idea that you would like to see presented at the next Annual Meeting? Be sure to share your input by emailing us at info@contactderm.org or by completing this general overall annual meeting survey:

Thank you for completing these surveys, which will help us make improvements to our future events.

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Report from ACDS Health Policy Committee and AMA Delegation

ACDS had full Representation at the American Medical Association (AMA) 2022 Interim Meeting

ACDS Members Bruce Brod, MD, MHCI, FAAD and James Taylor, MD, FAAD served as our delegate and newly appointed alternate delegate respectively to the AMA. The meeting was held in Honolulu, HI from November 12 – 15, 2022. Dr. Brod served the AMA Dermatology Section Council as Chair for Reference Committee B resolutions pertaining to legislative advocacy initiatives. Drs. Brod and Taylor served as voting members pertaining to resolutions and policy development in the House of Delegates.

The HOD Opening Session took place on Saturday, November 12, and opened with a compelling speech by AMA President and dermatologist, Jack Resneck, Jr. MD, FAAD.

Key resolutions from the AMA Meeting:

Third-Party Pharmacy Benefit Administrators

ACDS was a co-sponsor of this resolution which was adopted. Third-part administrators (TPAs) are like pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in that they manage formularies, negotiate rebates, process claims and pay pharmacies for prescriptions; However because they are new, they are not bound by the same regulations as PBMs. This resolution calls for transparency and oversight of TPAs, including being subjected to the same licensing, registration, and transparency-reporting requirements that regulators mandate for PBMs.

Domestic Production of Personal Protective Equipment

This resolution was adopted with amendments and calls for the AMA to advocate for domestically sourcing PPE equipment and maintaining proper supplies for medical needs during public health emergencies, including COVID-19.

Off-Label Policy

This resolution reaffirmed AMA policy and added additional points to strengthen its position statement, including emphasizing the autonomous clinical decision-making authority of a physician to prescribe an FDA-approved drug product or medical device for an off-label indication based on sound scientific evidence. It also confirmed physician autonomy regarding appropriate dosing decisions.

Increased Credit for Continuing Medical Education Preparation

This resolution was adopted after amendments. It seeks to increase CME credits for physicians who prepare and give presentations. This resolution calls for the AMA to work with the ACCME to allow presenters the ability to claim additional CME credit for time spent on preparing and presenting on CME programs.

ACDS Alternate Delegate

Through a comprehensive selection process, Dr. James Taylor was selected as the ACDS Alternate Delegate to the AMA House of Delegates by the ACDS Board of Directors. Dr. Taylor, Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine has extensive experience in government affairs and organized medicine: first as a U.S. Capitol Page for three years, and later at NIOSH for two years and participation on numerous federal health panels (National Research Council, Institute of Medicine, VA, FDA, NIOSH, USAF). He has been active in health advocacy at the federal and state level. He has served six major medical organizations in an official capacity as vice-president of both the AAD and ADA and as a founding member and past president of ACDS, his county medical society, and the Cleveland and Ohio Dermatological Societies.

ACDS Delegate: Dr Bruce Brod also serves as Chair of the AAD Council on Government Affairs and Health Policy.

ACDS Health Policy Chair: Dr Alex Flamm also serves as an advisor to the Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC) of the AMA.

Submitted by:
Bruce A. Brod, MD, MHCI, FAAD
Alex Flamm, MD, FAAD, Chair, ACDS Health Policy Committee
James S. Taylor, MD, FAAD

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Congratulations to all Award Recipients!

2023 Alexander A. Fisher Resident Award

The Alexander A. Fisher Resident Award is presented to the best oral presentation by a resident or medical student at the Scientific Session of the ACDS Annual Meeting.

Gold: Puneet Arora, BS - The Diagnostic Value of Delayed-Type Reactions to Aeroallergens for Atopic Disease
Silver: Thomas Norman - Contact Allergens in Polyvinyl Chloride Medical Examination Gloves in the U.S.
Bronze: Christen Samaan, MD - Is In-Person Day 2 Patch Testing Necessary?

2023 Fran Storrs Poster Award

The Fran Storrs Poster Award is presented to the top three research/review posters at the Scientific Session of the ACDS Annual Meeting.

Gold: Amy Ducharme, MD - AllergEAZE vs. Dormer Laboratories, Inc. Propolis Positivity Rate: Experience From a Single Center
Silver: Samuel Ekstein - Cross-Reactivity Between Propylene Glycol and Butylene Glycol
Bronze: Nicholas Battis, BS - Isothiazolinones in Triamcinolone: An Undeclared and Unwanted Ingredient

2023 Howard I. Maibach Travel Award

The Howard I. Maibach Travel Award provides travel grants to the American Contact Dermatitis Society's Annual Meeting for the presentation of work (either an oral presentation or poster presentation) by investigators outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Lisa F. Kiely, BMBS, BSc (Ireland)

2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Travel Award

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Travel Award provides travel grants to the American Contact Dermatitis Society's Annual Meeting for the presentation of work (either an oral presentation or poster presentation) which focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, or healthcare disparities within dermatitis.

Katie Roster, MD - Assessing Reporting of Race and Ethnicity in Atopic Dermatitis Clinical Guidelines

2023 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Healthcare Disparities Poster Award

In recognition of a new initiative surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion, The American Contact Dermatitis Society is pleased to announce the availability of the new DEI Poster Award. This award will recognize work focused around diversity, equity, inclusion and health disparities within dermatitis.

Chidubem A. V. Okeke, BS - A Comparison of Dermatitis Diagnoses Across Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Dermatology Care Teams

2023 Contact Allergen Bee Winners

All ACDS Annual Meeting resident attendees had an opportunity to participate in the popular Contact Allergen Bee sponsored by the ACDS Dermatitis Journal. Congrats to our winners!

First Prize: Gun Ho Lee, MD
Honorable Mention: Anusha Kumar, MD

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The following members/entities were recognized at the ACDS 34^th Annual Meeting for their various contributions within/to ACDS:

Presidential Award

Doug Powell, MD

Sulzberger Grant

Jennifer Chen, MD

ACDS Management Service

Executive Director, Inc.

Annual Meeting and AMA & Health Policy Committees

Alexandra Flamm, MD, FAAD

Editorial Transition

Tony Gaspari, MD

CAMP

Margo Reeder, MD

Alexander A. Fisher Lectureship

Georg Stingl, MD

Platinum Sponsorship

Dormer Laboratories, Inc. / Chemotechnique Diagnostics
Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ACDS Service

Amber Atwater, MD
Allison Ehrlich, MD, MHS

AMA Delegate

Bruce Brod, MD, MHCI

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ACDS wishes to thank the following sponsors for their support of the ACDS 34^th Annual Meeting:

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Looking Back

The past year has been eventful for Dermatitis. The major event for 2022 has been the transition between publishers. Wolters Kluwer has been our publisher for the past 12 years and the journal has benefited tremendously during this time. We are grateful for our association with this publisher and all the success they have brought to the Journal. Prior to the expiration of this contract, ACDS, the journal, the publication committee and an external consultant analyzed competing proposals. We determined that the proposal offered by the publishing house, Mary Ann Liebert, was advantageous to the journal, and we therefore made a major decision to change publishers. Thus, the calendar year 2022 was busy, as we prepared for the transition to our new publisher, which was finalized on January 1, 2023. This change necessitated a new website and manuscript submission platform, which is now Scholar One. This transition has been successful, thanks to the substantial efforts by the editorial office (especially Jo Urquhart), our new publisher (special thanks to our lead publisher, Sophie Reisz, and her colleagues), the ACDS (special thanks to Executive Director, Ginger Czajkowski), our Editorial Board and our reviewers and authors who submit manuscripts for publishing consideration. The transition to Liebert has resulted in a more liberal page allocation, resulting in a significant reduction in our backlog of accepted, unpublished manuscripts. This reduction in backlog is a major ‘win’ for the journal, since an unhealthy backlog of manuscripts is a threat to the continued growth of the journal.

As we prepared for our transition to our new publisher, we also published a special, theme-focused issue on Atopic Dermatitis. Additionally, we also expanded the number of domains of interest for the journal. We now have a “Fifth domain”, that of Environmental Dermatitis, and we are fortunate that the renowned Dr. Jean Kruttman, Professor and Chair, Environmental Medicine, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, has agreed to be an Associate Editor for the new domain. Below is our working definition of this area of interest.

Environmental dermatitis is defined by allergic and irritant skin reactions to aeroallergens (house dust mite, molds, pollen, plants animal and insect dander), foods and protein contact dermatitis. It also includes dermatitis resulting from compromised skin barrier function. Main areas covered include basic biological mechanisms, diagnostic methods, experimental investigations and clinical aspects, including therapy.

The role of exposomal factors (indoors or outdoors) in inducing or modifying the course of such dermatitis is of interest. This includes dust, smoke, pollutants, microbes, chemicals, ultraviolet radiation, climatic and nutritional factors. It also includes reactions to dermatitis induced by bites, stings and envenomation from insects, reptiles, and animals.

We encourage the submission of research or review articles on environmental dermatitis, and will consider studies, letters, Pearls & Zebras, and Images. We also encourage submission of papers that have been published in conference proceedings, with the requirement that the authors have made significant extensions as compared to the already published version of the study.

Looking Forward

As we move into the second quarter of 2023, we look forward to receiving submissions related to all areas of interest of the journal: Contact, Atopic, Occupational, Drug and Environmental Dermatitis. We received a record number of submissions in 2022 (a total of 327 submissions across all domains), and we are on pace to surpass this number in 2023. We are working with our new publisher and a sponsor (University of California Irvine School of Medicine) to reconstitute Continuing Medical Education category 1 credit (1 hour) for our reviewers who complete reviews of new manuscripts. We will also offer 1 hour of Continuing Medical Education Category 1 credit (1 hour) for completing the self-assessment quiz associated with each issue. Watch for more information once these initiatives have been activated.

We thank the members of the ACDS for their continued support of the journal and all of the growing team who work behind the scenes to assure the continued successes and growth of Dermatitis. As always, the editorial office remains available to all to communicate ideas, recommendations, and overall feedback to continue improvements to the journal.

Submitted by:
Anthony Gaspari, MD
Dermatitis Editor-in-Chief

Now published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. and led by Anthony Gaspari, MD, Dermatitis® is the leading peer-reviewed scientific journal in contact dermatitis, and the only journal in its field that publishes leading research in atopic, contact, occupational, environmental, and drug dermatitis.

The journal is an essential resource for dermatologists, allergists, immunologists, and toxicologists and is now available only from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. - make sure you and your colleagues don't miss an issue!

Click here to request access from your institutional library now.

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