Dermatology Online Journal

AAD Election Results

President-Elect

Lynn Drake, M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of dermatology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, OK., was elected this past fall to be the President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology. After serving in this capacity starting March, 1997, she will become the AAD President at the 1998 Annual in Orlando, Florida in February - March, 1998.

Vice President-Elect

Richard Scher, M.D., Professor of Clinical Dermatology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, attending in Dermatology at Presbyterian Hospital and in private practice in New York, NY., was elected this past fall to be the Vice President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology. After serving in this capacity starting March, 1997, he will become the AAD Vice-President at the 1998 Annual in Orlando, Florida in February - March, 1998.

David Pariser, M.D., is Voluntary Professor and Chief of the Division of Dermatology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and in private practice in Norfolk, VA.

Stephen Stone, M.D., is Clinical Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and in private practice in Springfield, IL.

Clifford Lober, M.D., is Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Dept. of Medicine, Division of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL., and in private practive in Kissimmee, FL.

Robert Katz, M.D., is Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine (Dermatology) at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Consultant in Dermatology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Lawley Named School Dean

August 26, 1996

Thomas J. Lawley, M.D. has been named Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice Chair of the Emory University System of Health Care, effective Sept. 1. The appointment gives Lawley full titles to roles he has played since mid-May, when he was named interim Dean and Vice Chair following the resignation of the previous dean, Jeffrey L. Houpt.

Before becoming interim dean, Lawley was Executive Associate Dean of the School of Medicine, and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology. Lawley will step down as Chair of Dermatology and Director of the Dermatology Section of The Emory Clinic, positions which he held after coming from the National Institutes of Health in 1988.

Lawley is a member of the executive committee of The Emory Clinic's board of directors and also serves on the committees for finance and managed care. He is president of the Emory Medical Care Foundation, part of Emory's contractual arrangements with Grady Memorial Hospital.

Among numerous national honors, Lawley was selected for membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, whose members are invited based on their accomplishments in research, and the Association of American Physicians. He is on the board of directors of the American Academy of Dermatology, the Society for Investigative Dermatology, and the American Professors of Dermatology.

Lawley graduated from Canisius College in 1968, received his medical degree in 1972 and was an intern in 1973-74 at State University of New York (SUNY) School of Medicine in Buffalo. He completed residencies in Dermatology at Yale University and SUNY. In 1975, he went to the National Cancer Institute as a clinical associate and remained to move up through the ranks to become senior investigator at the Dermatology Branch before coming to Emory in 1988.

Revised AAD WebSite Wins Gold Award

NetGuide Magazine recently selected the American Academy of Dermatology

In January, 1997 an extensively revised AAD WebSite was launched, with enhanced graphics, databases and information resources. The site is divided into a Public Information domain, a Member Information domain (that is password protected for AAD members), and a Medical Community domain. Public Information includes a "Find a Dermatologist" search function that locates all AAD members, by area code, zip code, last name, city or state. Access to foundations, institues and support groups is provided, plus news releases, illustrated patient information pamphlets, and skin cancer and skin savvy articles.

The Members Information includes educational, CME and meeting activities, Washington, D.C. news updates, members benefits services and programs (insurance, credit cards, car rental discounts, etc.), messages from the leadership, and "Find a Dermatologist". Additional resources for members only will be provided, for a fee, starting in March 1997.

The Medical Community includes "Find a Dermatologist", listings of foundations, institutes support groups and databases, listings of patient and physician education products and ordering forms, and dermatology meeting information, including the Annual AAD meeting.

An additional service, provided for a fee, is "Dermatologist Profile Information" - a public searchable database of individual subscribing AAD members that provides their office location, phone numbers, office hours, and a curriculum vitae of the educational and credentials information about the physician.

AAD Advises NCQA

The American Academy of Dermatology has joined the Practicing Physician Advisory Committee of the

Established in 1979, and an independent organization in 1990, the NCQA accredits managed care programs nation wide, based on 20 criteria and 50 standards that measure a plan's performance. These include quality improvement, utilization management, credentialing of participating physicians, preventive health services, medical records, and assurances of patients' rights and responsibilities. NCQA accreditation is a highly valued and an important component of managed care marketing.

19th World Congress of Dermatology in Sydney

The 19th World Congress of Dermatology will be held in Sydney, Australia, June 15 - 21, 1997. There is very high interest in this meeting by dermatologists world-wide. According to Robin Marks, President of the 19th World Congress, the program has been expanded "to accomodate the overwhelming number of requests we are receiving from those wishing to participate in one way or another". Anyone interested in the attending this meeting should contact:

AAMC AGGRESSIVELY PRESENTS VIEW ON PATH

(Reproduced, with permission, from the American Association of Medical Colleges e-mail list =====AAMC STAT===== dated 01-27-97.)

In an important effort to modify the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) ongoing audit of Medicare billings by teaching physicians, AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., personally delivered a briefing paper to HHS Secretary Donna Shalala at a meeting last Friday, Jan. 24, that detailed concerns about the Physicians at Teaching Hospitals (PATH) initiative, and provided recommendations to improve the process.

The objective of this briefing document, developed in collaboration with the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC), is to impress upon the Secretary the modifications needed if the PATH initiative is be a fair, cooperative, and effective effort for academic medicine and the government.

The briefing paper contends that the PATH initiative is "fundamentally unfair" as currently implemented, in that it "amounts to an OIG program to coerce medical schools and teaching physicians into forfeiting millions of dollars of fees billed in good faith by threatening punitive damages if they do not settle audits based on the retroactive application of Health Care Financing Administration regulations." The paper then presents four recommended solutions to address the perceived inequalities in the PATH audits.

The concerns and recommendations depicted in the briefing paper serve as the unifying foundation for the PATH Advocacy Coalition, spearheaded by the AAMC and the AHC. This group, which includes organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, and the Medical Group Management Association, has been convened to foster greater information sharing about the PATH initiative and greater collaboration to achieve the recommended modifications in the audit process.

The PATH briefing paper has been distributed to the AAMC and AHC leadership and select staff, as well as to media upon request. It is available on the AAMC Web site at

January, 1997