ACDS Virtual Fall Meeting - Speakers
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On-Demand Content is Available Until December 31, 2021!
Click on the speaker's name to find out more about them.
Dormer/Chemotechnique Sponsored Session
| Thirty Years of Patch Testing Riddles! | Denis Sasseville, MD |  |
The Road Less Taken in Patch Testing
| Allergy Testing for Systemic Drug Allergies | Paul L. Bigliardi, MD |
| Testing for Eosinophilic Esophagitis | Jonathan M. Spergel, MD PhD |
| Immediate Testing in Patch Clinic | Douglas L. Powell, MD |
| Q&A Panel |
Clinical Challenges in Patch Testing
| Product Safety Patch Testing: Can We Improve Methods? | Stuart R. Lessin, MD |
| The Barely-But-Definitely-There Patch Test Reaction on the Last Reading |
Mark Denis P. Davis, MD |
| Updates in Pediatric Allergic Contact Dermatitis | JiaDe Yu, MD |
| Q&A Panel |
Keynote Speaker
| Sensory Neurons Control Skin Inflammation | Daniel H. Kaplan, MD PhD |
Unique Consideration in Patch Testing
| Updates in Itch | Sarina Elmariah, MD PhD |
| Psychodermatology & Patch Test: Psychological Considerations in Patients Undergoing Patch Testing |
Katlein França, MD PhD |
| "UV, or Not UV, That is the Question": Updates in Photopatch Testing | Brandon Adler, MD |
| Q&A Panel |
Paul L. Bigliardi, MD
Prof. Paul L. Bigliardi, MD is a Physician with over 20 years clinical experiences in Dermato-Allergy focusing on allergic diseases in skin and other epithelia, including diagnostic and management of drug allergies and atopic dermatitis. The training in Dermato-Allergy included a fellowship at the University of Minnesota and a double residency and Swiss board certifications in Dermatology and Allergy/Clinical Immunology in Basel, Switzerland.
From 2005 to 2011 he headed the outpatient clinic and Dermato-Allergy Division at the Department of Dermatology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. From 2011 to 2018 he led a translational research group at ASTAR Research Institute and a Dermato-Allergy Division at the National University of Singapore. In 2018, he got recruited to the Department of Dermatology, University of Minnesota to create and lead a unique and comprehensive Allergy Division. This Division can diagnose and manage all types of immediate and delayed type allergic reactions, from severe drug allergies to complex atopic diseases to all sort of contact allergies.
In research he is constantly combining his extensive clinical experience with strong collaborations with engineers, biologists, chemists and industry to develop and test new diagnostic and therapeutic models, concepts and devices in skin research and to develop novel human 3D epithelial models.
Session 1: Allergy Testing for Systemic Drug Allergies
Dr. Bigliardi will present on how drug allergies are very common, but most of them are not correctly diagnosed leading to significant morbidity and mortality. He will also cover the following topics:
- recognize severe drug allergies
- diagnostic of drug allergies by combination of prick, intradermal and patch tests
- interpretation of test results
Jonathan M. Spergel, MD PhD
Dr. Jonathan Spergel is a Professor of Pediatrics and holder of Stuart Starr Chair of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania and Chief of Allergy Section at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and director of Center for Eosinophilic Diseases. He is director of CHOP’s FARE Center of Excellence. His clinical and post-graduate research training in Allergy and Immunology were completed at Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Under the mentorship of Dr. Geha, Dr. Spergel developed a murine of model of atopic march and atopic dermatitis. This model has been used for the last 20 years to study multiple atopic diseases including food allergy and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
Dr. Spergel has worked from bench to bedside working on numerous aspects of food allergy. He has identified genetic risk factors for Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Food allergy. Dr. Spergel identified that food allergy or any allergen can be sensitized through skin in mouse model.
He has held leadership in numerous academic societies including Board of Directors for American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, Chair of Medical Advisory Board for American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders and International Food Protein Enterocolitis Society.
Session 1: Testing for Eosinophilic Esophagitis
Dr. Spergel will answer the question, Can you test for foods in EoE?
In addition, he will cover the following:
- What is Eosinophilic Esophagitis?
- What are the triggers for EoE?
- How can you test for EoE?
Douglas L. Powell, MD
Douglas Powell, MD began his medical career at the University of Utah, followed by a dermatology residency at the University of Rochester where he got his first taste of contact dermatitis and the effects of chemicals on the skin. After residency and a wonderful 4 years of active duty service in the Air Force, Dr. Powell returned to the University of Utah and the mountains that he loves. He then started the contact and occupational dermatitis clinic in the department of Dermatology, which now has been going for 20 years.
He has loved the Sherlockian aspect of the patch test patients and has learned so much through the years from patients, from colleagues and from mentors. Dr. Powell tried at one time to arrange for patch testing in Ghana, Africa. He has a particular interest in contact urticaria which began early in his contact allergy career and which he feels is underappreciated and under evaluated.
Through the years, he has served in a number of positions including: President of Utah Dermatology Society and Intermountain Dermatology Society, 18 years at the 4th Street Homeless Clinic, multiple committees at the ACDS, and is currently the President of the ACDS.
Session 1: Immediate Testing in Patch Clinic
In spite of common knowledge of contact urticaria, it seems that few patch test clinics are evaluating for it regularly for various reasons. Dr. Powell’s lecture will discuss not only the need for its evaluation, but will show simple ways to include it into a typical contact dermatitis practice. He will also cover:
- The need for the evaluation for contact urticaria regularly
- Methods for evaluation of contact allergy
- Simple ways to integrate it into a typical patch test clinic
Stuart R. Lessin, MD
Stuart R. Lessin, MD is an investigative dermatologist with over 35 years of experience in clinical care, laboratory and clinical research, and product testing.
He led a federally funded laboratory investigation at the University of Pennsylvania focused on the molecular biology of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and developed techniques for molecular diagnosis of CTCL and T-cell mediated skin diseases. As Director of Dermatology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, he created and directed clinical care and research programs and led a topical drug development program resulting in U.S. FDA approval. Dr. Lessin currently serves as Medical Director of KGL Skin Study Center, a Philadelphia-based, independent clinical research facility, that conducts clinical testing of skin care products and drugs/devices in human subjects supporting claims substantiation and regulatory approval.
Dr. Lessin is a one of the co-founders of the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation and has served on its Board of Directors and in various capacities since its inception in 1998. He also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Dermatology Foundation and has served in various capacities since 1993.
Dr. Lessin and his family live in suburban Philadelphia, PA.
Session 2: Product Safety Patch Testing: Can We Improve Methods?
Dr. Lessin will present on how product safety in patch testing might be improved. In addition, he will cover the following topics:
- Human repeat insult patch testing (hRIPT) is an established & low risk in-vivo method for assessing safety of topically applied products.
- hRIPT protocols for contact sensitivity (modified Draize) & cumulative irritation (21-day Cum) are labor intensive with limited detection sensitivity for contact sensitivity.
- hRIPT for assessing contact sensitivity would benefit from validation & correlation with current non-animal assays.
Mark Denis P. Davis, MD
Dr. Mark Davis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota. Born and bred in Ireland, he trained in internal medicine prior to coming to Mayo Clinic in 1991 for a residency in Internal Medicine followed by a residency in Dermatology.
Dr. Davis has broad clinical and research interests. He is the author of 225 peer-reviewed publications, and 30 book chapters. Dr. Davis is especially interested in patch testing and has been director of the patch testing service /Mayo Clinic Contact Dermatitis Group for the past 20 years and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Contact Dermatitis Society. He is looking forward to sharing some thoughts about the conventional wisdom of ignoring the ‘doubtful’ reaction to patch testing materials.
Session 2: The Barely-But-Definitely-There Patch Test Reaction on the Last Reading
Dr. Davis' presentation will cover how reactions to patch test allergens may be subtle but are important, so don’t disregard them!
- Up to 40% of patch test readings at the final read are graded as ‘macular erythema’- also termed ‘doubtful’ or +/- reactions
- By convention, these reactions are disregarded by many patch test experts and societies and patients are not educated to avoid these allergens
- We advocate that these reactions should be assessed just like any other patch test reaction; patients may need to avoid the allergens associated with these reactions for their dermatitis to clear
JiaDe Yu, MD
Dr. Yu is the director of the MGH Contact and Occupational Dermatitis Clinic. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Contact Dermatitis Society and is the co-chair of the ACDS Fall Meeting Committee. His research interests focus on allergic contact dermatitis in children.
Session 2: Updates in Pediatric Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Up to 20% of children with atopic dermatitis have concomitant allergic contact dermatitis. This may be missed if patch testing is not performed! Dr. Yu will delve into that, along with:
- Allergens of high prevalence in children
- Emerging allergens of important in children
Daniel H. Kaplan, MD PhD
Daniel H. Kaplan, MD PhD is a Professor within the Department of Dermatology and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh. His research is dedicated to understanding the mechanisms that underlie skin immunity and the interplay of different immune cells types that reside in the skin. He has made consistent progress in this area since for approximately 22 years.
As a graduate student at Washington University, St Louis, he participated in the re-invigoration of the concept of tumor immunosurveillance by observing an increased frequency of skin tumors in immunodeficient mice (Kaplan et al, PNAS 1998). During his post-doc at Yale University, he developed a number of mouse lines with a selective deficiency of Langerhans cells (LC) and showed that these cells have the unexpected capacity to suppress tissue immune responses (Kaplan et al. Immunity, 2005). As an Assistant and later Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota, he found that LC and dermal dendritic cells have unique functions in the development of anti-pathogen responses.
More recently, his laboratory has focused understanding how intracellular communication mechanisms between immune cells and non-hematopoietic cells in the skin modulate cutaneous immunity and skin disease. He found that pain-sensing nerves are necessary and sufficient to trigger innate immune responses and this can augment regional immunity by communicating the presence of danger to adjacent areas of skin through a process termed “anticipatory immunity.” Other neurons that innervate the epidermis actively suppress mast cells resulting in attenuated skin inflammation. Finally, his lab has shown that keratinocytes determine LC migration and epidermal residency of resident memory T cells by controlling the amount of available active TGFb in the epidermis.
Keynote Speaker: Sensory Neurons Control Skin Inflammation
Dr. Kaplan will present on how sensory neurons in the skin play an unexpected role in controlling inflammation and will cover the following topics:
- Inflammation in tissues is driven by cytokine circuits
- Sensory neurons provide both positive and negative regulation of cytokine circuits
- Targeting sensory neurons or neurotransmitters to control inflammation is an untapped area with large potential
Sarina Elmariah, MD PhD
Sarina B. Elmariah MD PhD is a dermatologist and neuroscientist in the Department of Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Sarina is the Director of the MGH Itch and Neuroimmune Disorders Clinic at MGH, and her interests include general dermatology, sensory disorders of the skin, and understanding the cross talk between skin, the nervous system and the immune system in different cutaneous diseases. She performs basic science, translational and clinical research on itch sensation and itching disorders at MGH’s Cutaneous Biology Research Center and the Clinical Unit for Research Trials & Outcomes In Skin.
She received an MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and concurrently a PhD in developmental neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania School Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where she was awarded the Saul Winegrad Award for outstanding graduate thesis and the Balduin Lucke Memorial Prize for superior research in medicine and biology. She completed her residency in dermatology at New York University, where she served as a chief resident, and thereafter joined the faculty at MGH in 2010.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and research grants, including the Dermatology Foundation Physician-Scientist Career Development Award, an MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award, K08 Mentored Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, and the American Academy of Dermatology 2018 Young Investigator Award.
Session 3: Updates in Pediatric Allergic Contact Dermatitis
Dr. Elmariah will provide updates in itch. In addition, she will cover the following topics:
- Review recent advances in our understanding of itch and somatosensory physiology
- Learn strategies to manage chronic itch
Katlein França, MD PhD
Dr. Katlein França is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Dermatology & Cutaneous Surgery and the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Faculty of the Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She has over 150 scientific publications to her credit. Among these, over 100 are published in Peer-reviewed Pubmed indexed journals. She is the editor and author of seven dermatology textbooks. She is frequently invited as speaker and chair at major international conferences.
Dr. França was a speaker in over 17 countries. In 2016 she received the “Imrich Sarkany Non-European Memorial Scholarship” from the European Academy of Dermatology, and in 2019 the “Lecturer of the Year Scholarship Award” from the same academy. Dr. França is past President of the Association for Psychoneurocutaneous Medicine of North America (2016- 2017) and currently serves as President of the World Health Academy of Integrative Dermatology.
Session 3: Psychodermatology & Patch Test: Psychological Considerations in Patients Undergoing Patch Testing
Dr. França's presentation will answer the question "What patch testing and psychodermatology have in common?" She will also touch on:
- Patients undergoing Patch Testing might be psychologically impaired by their primary dermatological conditions
- Patients undergoing Patch Testing might have unrealistic expectations and anxiety prior testing.
Brandon Adler, MD
Dr. Adler is assistant professor of dermatology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed residency training at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, where he served as chief resident. As co-director of the USC Contact Dermatitis Clinic, Dr. Adler performs expanded patch/photopatch testing and conducts research on contact dermatitis and photodermatitis, with a related interest in sunscreen safety.
He currently serves on the ACDS Board of Directors as well as several committees.
Session 3: "UV, or Not UV, That is the Question": Updates in Photopatch Testing
Sun got your patients down? Join Dr. Adler to get up to speed on photopatch testing and the need-to-know photoallergens. His presentation will also cover the following points:
- Discuss the differential diagnosis of photodermatitis and indications for performing photopatch testing
- Review practical aspects of the photopatch test procedure
- Identify established and up-and-coming photoallergen