Giving thanks
From the President
By Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, November 1, 2024
Dear members,
I hope everyone is enjoying their autumn so far!
Last month kept me busy doing one of my favorite things: sharing the successes of our Academy to other organizations. I spoke at the Nevada Society for Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery, the American Dermatological Association, and the Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference, where I provided an update on some of the great things the Academy has been up to recently. As I have shared with you throughout my presidency, nothing has given me greater pleasure than to be your advocate, your voice, and your leader. I am honored to be the one who gets to speak on behalf of the members to show off what we’ve accomplished.
I’ll be doing more of the same in November! I have several speaking engagements lined up, including the Emirates Dermatology Society, the MEIDAM Association conference, the American Medical Association, and the CILAD meeting in Colombia. I will never grow tired of bragging about our wonderful Academy!
But of course, I would be remiss to speak about the month of November and not mention Thanksgiving. This is a month to express gratitude and thanks. I know we each have so much to be thankful for, and I hope that this is an opportunity to reflect and cherish all that we are fortunate to have in our lives as dermatologists, healers, and Academy members. For me, I have so much to be thankful for. For starters, I am thankful to be your president. You have trusted me with the honor of a lifetime, and I hope that I have lived up to your expectations during my time in office thus far, and as I continue to work on your behalf for the next many months.
I am thankful for our members, without whom the AAD simply could not exist. It is not easy work fighting for the members day in and day out, but it is rewarding and fulfilling, and I am proud to do it. I am thankful for the Academy’s dedicated staff of professionals in our Rosemont and Washington, D.C. offices, who work tirelessly to keep the engine running and the wheels spinning. They make doing my job so much more impactful, and I cannot thank them enough.
Most importantly, I am thankful for my wife, Nimisha, my children, Anya and Armaan, and the rest of my family who have supported me every step of the way throughout my career and now throughout my presidency. You are the reason I do all of this, and I couldn’t be prouder to be your husband, father, son, brother, cousin, uncle, and more. As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I am reminded of the words of President John F. Kennedy. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” I hope we can all take these words to heart as we enter the holiday season. Wishing each of you and your loved ones a wonderful month of thanks and even more happiness on the horizon.
Let the unity of our specialty be our guiding principle!
Until next time, all my best,
Seemal
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Presidential spotlight
Every month I have the privilege of honoring one of our members who goes above and beyond in service of our specialty in multiple different ways.
It is therefore my pleasure this month to honor Amy J. Theos, MD, FAAD, as our AAD Presidential Spotlight.
Dr. Theos is a dermatologist with subspecialty training in pediatric dermatology. Amy graduated from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1996. She completed an internship in Internal Medicine from University of Alabama Medical Center at Birmingham (UAB) in 1997, and her dermatology residency in 2000, also from UAB Medical Center. She was a pediatric dermatology fellow at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University from 2000–2001. Dr. Theos was born and raised in the South, and prior to joining the University of Utah, she practiced pediatric dermatology at Children’s of Alabama for 22 years. What you likely don’t know about Amy is that for years and years she was the sole pediatric dermatologist serving the entire state of Alabama, surrounding catchment states and beyond, treating the sickest of children and providing care to some of our most at-need patients.
For me, the most important thing I can personally share about Amy is that she is the type of person who never asks for credit, never craves the spotlight, and truly believes in service. To me, she is the definition of a servant leader. When I was a first-year dermatology resident at UAB, Amy was assigned to be my mentor. I feel so blessed that my initial foundational months of dermatology training were under her wise counsel, especially at a time when I was considering pediatric dermatology for future training. Amy was always the type of mentor who was there to guide, but never influence. To listen, but not interfere. To lead by example in service, not by desire of recognition or award. And even though I decided to pursue medical dermatology, my passion for treating pediatric patients, particularly those with vitiligo and pigmentary diseases, was because Amy showed me how we as dermatologists transform the lives of our youngest and often most vulnerable patients.
Amy has given so much to literally thousands of children and their families, and does this with conviction, dedication, and always in the spirit of servant leadership. Now that I am the president of the AAD, I look back on mentors like Amy and want to say to her: THANK YOU for everything you did to support and guide me, but most importantly THANK YOU for everything you do to better the lives of countless pediatric dermatology patients! You are truly a dermatology hero, and therefore it is my honor to recognize you with this month’s AAD Presidential Spotlight!
