A changing of the guard: New faces at the Academy
From the President
Dr. Tomecki served as Academy president from March 2021 to March 2022.
By Kenneth Tomecki, MD, April 1, 2021
Dateline: Cleveland. Friends, countrymen/women, colleagues, dermatologists from coast to coast. Who would have thought the last year would be so memorable, so unnerving, so depressing? No clue. None. I was elected Academy President two years ago, and I envisioned two challenging years — demanding and time-consuming. But not this — not a pandemic year, riddled with uncertainty and the unknown, aggravated by economic instability and unrest in D.C.
It’s been a tough year for everyone; no one has been spared, including the medical/derm community. Fortunately, the Academy and its members adapted well, often with good spirits. Patient care paused, but continued, albeit differently, incorporating teledermatology, virtual/Zoom meetings, and compromised interactions with family, friends, and patients. It’s been a tough, demoralizing year, but thanks to Drs. George Hruza and Bruce Thiers at the helm, and the Academy staff and Board, most of the derm community is coping and weathering the situation well.
The upcoming year will probably be the same. The pandemic continues unabated, but vaccines are now in play, and that will help. The ups and downs of daily living in the derm world should be fairly predictable, and hopefully all of us will remain committed to our work and the specialty. Our priorities remain unchanged: good health, family, patient care.
To help navigate the new year, there are a few new faces at the Academy, but all are experienced, nonetheless. There is yours truly as designated driver, and Vice President Dr. Neal Bhatia, the Wisconsin badger (now in San Diego) as co-pilot. The AAD’s new CEO Elizabeth Usher hit the ground running in January 2020 and didn’t miss a beat. The Academy has four newly elected members of the Board, all women, two from California and two from the Midwest, with varied backgrounds and interests, but all with the same focus for the new year: to maintain a strong Academy, with appropriate attention to member needs and with patient care as our primary focus. In the wings we have President-elect Dr. Mark Kaufmann, and Vice President-elect Dr. Linda Stein-Gold.
Finally, a word about myself. I’m a New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, but on assignment in Cleveland for the last four decades. I went to college and medical school at Columbia, then derm training at SUNY Buffalo, where Dr. Dick Dobson set the tone, then a stint at the NIH. I’m a medical dermatologist with ID as my primary interest. My commitment to the Academy has been active and ongoing for more than 30 years. Regarding my family: I’ve been married to Eileen for more than 45 years; our son Peter and his wife Rose live and work in New York City.
Ok, that’s the playbill for the coming year. The schedule is full, with no open dates, and no provision for rain-outs. The expected array of concerns — COVID-19, the economy, coding and reimbursement, teledermatology, scope of practice expansions, government regulations, etc. — are just a few of the issues we’ll be facing…plus the unknown. The terrain will be uneven at times, but the Academy’s direction and focus remain unchanged. We, officers, Board, and staff remain committed to you the members, to patient care (a given), and to the specialty itself. The bottom line: there’s work to be done and we’re ready. All aboard. No looking back.
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