Industry is Important

Many times clinicians do not have the time or funding to pursue solutions to clinical challenges. Industry has the luxury of research and development funding, but lacks the firsthand knowledge that physicians have. Industry and clinicians can engage in mutually beneficial collaborations. There was a panel focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) where key opinion leaders weighed in on the benefits and dangers of AI. There are many companies, including Google, that are looking into these technologies but the physicians on the panel emphasized that dermatologists need to be involved in the creation of these algorithms. Also, we need to tread carefully when creating these technologies to ensure that they are equitable and reliable. The clinicians emphasized that we need to focus on patient outcomes first to ensure a more equitable healthcare system.

Leadership Buy-In

Many leaders just look at the bottom line when it comes to patient care. Clinicians are being pressured to see increasing numbers of patients and this can quickly lead to burnout. Leadership needs to look at the big picture–that clinical creativity can to the creation of products that can be commercialized. Physicians need to know they have the support of the administration to pursue passions and potentially change the field of practice. The speakers emphasized that this would be incredibly helpful for rare diseases that often do not get a lot of notability or funding. Many spoke about how the only way they were able to pursue an idea or conduct groundbreaking research was that their management team believed in the power of clinician expertise.

Clinical Experience is Invaluable Experience

All of the speakers spoke about how their ideas were connected to patients they encountered. They talked a lot about the patient journey—physicians must consider where the patient was before they arrived at the office and where they will go afterwards. What are the outside factors affecting their medical conditions and do they have the means to treat their ailments? Clinicians are uniquely positioned to find true areas of need. Dr. Jamie Breslin spoke about the successes of Dermatology Hackathons. Finances have been raised, incubators have been joined, corporations have been formed and thousands of dollars in sales have been collected. Our alumnus, Dr. Reid Waldman, had the opportunity to speak about his company, VeraDermics, which aims to reduce issues when treating pediatric warts. He discovered this while treating patients in clinic, and owes the growth of his company to VMW and AID!

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]

“These innovations should be physician-led, they have the experience to create solutions.”

-Dr. Michael Abramoff, panel speaker

[/perfectpullquote]