New Leaders Take Office at AAD

The American Academy of Dermatology has introduced its new officers, who began their terms on March 5 at the conclusion of the AAD’s 71st Annual Meeting in Miami. Dirk M. Elston, MD, FAAD, is now president of the AAD. He received his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University Medical School in Philadelphia and is a past director of the department of dermatology at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania and the current director of the Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology in New York. Dr. Elston will hold office for one year and is joined by vice president Lisa A. Garner, MD, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She also maintains a private practice in Garland, Texas.
“There are several opportunities and challenges confronting the Academy and dermatology, including changes that are coming as a result of health care reform,” said Dr. Elston. “We have to work to ensure that these changes do not limit patients’ ability to see a dermatologist to receive optimal care for their skin diseases.”
Four additional physicians began four-year terms as members of the AAD Board of Directors while in Miami. They include:
Robert T. Brodell, MD, FAAD, professor of dermatology and pathology and chief of the dermatology division on the department of otolaryngology and communicative sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi
Julie A. Hodge, MD, MPH, FAAD, assistant clinical professor at the University of California at Irvine
George J. Hruza, MD, MBA, FAAD, clinical professor of dermatology and otolaryngology at St. Louis University
Paul Storrs, MD, FAAD, a dermatologist in private practice in Palos Heights, Illinois and former director of dermatologic surgery at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.