Wrapping up a unifying year of ‘servant leadership’
In his outgoing presidential address, Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, reminded members that unity is critical to dermatology’s future.
Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, closed his 12-month tenure as AAD President at the March 9, 2025, Plenary by recalling a unifying year of advocacy, action, and pivotal change for the specialty and for the Academy.
“A year ago, I vowed to be a servant leader, and I’ve delivered on that. I’d like to think that some of the positive change we’ve seen this year is because I was always cognizant about serving you and taking on issues central to our specialty and our lives,” Dr. Desai said.
Of the notable achievements to advance our shared mission of promoting excellence in dermatologic care, Dr. Desai recounted making more than 10 trips to Washington, D.C., to highlight the life-enhancing, life-saving work dermatologists do and advocate for Medicare physician payment reform. This involved testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee about the dangerous impact of continued payment cuts on our practices and hosting a record-breaking AADA Legislative Conference, with nearly 200 Academy members participating in meetings in the U.S. House and Senate.
“With one voice, we underscored the importance of reforming our broken Medicare physician payment system,” he said.
In addition to legislative advocacy, Dr. Desai referenced other remarkable strides this past year to enhance the specialty, including:
- Strengthening the AAD clinical guidelines app so clinicians have easy access to information when they need it
- Working to launch AAD’s image collection database and roll out Dialogues in Dermatology as a free member benefit
- Launching a campaign to address skin disease for the homeless population with an event in Los Angeles
“At our Innovation Academy in Seattle in August [2024], we showcased all the new and exciting ways we’re pushing dermatology into the future and strengthened our Resident Ambassadors program to ensure a robust pipeline of talent for our future,” Dr. Desai said. “We also revamped our public-facing communications efforts and doubled down on public education about what the role of board-certified dermatologist is with our successful Your Dermatologist Knows strategy.”
Finally, Dr. Desai was particularly honored to host a Unity Summit, which brought together 80 leaders of state dermatology societies and sister societies to discuss strategies, themes, and actions, and to represent the Academy at 50 meetings across the country and in 11 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, including his cultural homeland of India.
“My travels only drove home again that the American Academy of Dermatology is the gold standard, the premier organization for dermatologists in the world,” he said.
Moving forward, Dr. Desai urged the Academy to stay laser-focused on the issues that most impact members, and, ultimately, patients.
“Remain steadfast about advocating for fair reimbursement and make sure the Academy remains the most relevant organization in dermatology,” he concluded. “Above all, keep unity your North Star.”
