ASDS announces research program recipients at 2019 annual meeting

Eight grants have been awarded to recipients across three research programs at the 2019 ASDS annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The programs include the Jumpstart Research Seed Grant Program, Cutting Edge Research Grant Program and Fredric S. Brandt, MD, Innovations in Aesthetics Fellowship Fund.

“ASDS is committed to supporting research through these programs, which for years have enabled ASDS members to be innovators in the field of dermatologic surgery,” according to ASDS President Murad Alam, M.D., M.B.A. “Our Research Work Group carefully reviewed this year’s applicants and is pleased to award these eight recipients as they pursue these important topics facing our specialty.”

A new addition in 2019, the Jumpstart Research Seed Grant Program provides physicians a chance to isolate objectives, test out possible hypotheses and provide guidance on directionality of research before approaching the ASDS for additional funding, or seek funding from external entities. Of the eight overarching recipients, three were awarded grants from this program.

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• Spencer Bezalel, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, received funding to investigate the “Evaluation of non-invasive non-thermal irreversible electroporation on cutaneous tissue.”

• Jigar Patel, M.D., of Duke University, will be using the grant for research on the “Evaluation of the accuracy of computer-guided laser delivery versus a human-operator for cutaneous applications.”

• Wesley Yu, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, will be investigating “Mechanisms of immune tolerance: HPV, the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway and squamous cell carcinoma.”

Introduced in 1999, the Cutting Edge Research Grant Program encourages the innovation of new technologies in the surgical practice and also supports ASDS Board-directed research on topics such as Mohs Surgery for skin cancer and patient satisfaction, according to the press release. Three of the four selected grants were board-directed topics.

Monica Boen, M.D., of Cosmetic Laser Dermatology, will be researching “A randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency microneedling versus nonablative fractional 1550nm erbium:glass laser for the rejuvenation of the neck.”

Maggie Chow, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, will be researching “Genetic markers for metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck among patients with solid organ transplants.” She is the only recipient in this category with a topic that was not board directed.

The last two grants within this grant program will go to Michael Renzi, M.D., of Cooper Dermatology, who will be studying “The effect of compression therapy on post-operative healing and complication rate in dermatologic surgery,” and Joseph Sobanko, M.D., of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who will be researching the “Cost analysis and shifting trends of melanoma surgery in different operative settings from 2008 to 2018.”

Supported by the Allergan Foundation and established in 2015, the Fredric S. Brandt, M.D., Innovations in Aesthetics Fellowship Fund continues the path of its namesake by uplifting junior cosmetic dermatologists and helping with their development of cosmetic treatments and patient care. To meet the requirements to submit for this grant, one has to be enrolled in an ASDS-accredited Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery Fellowship Training program.

There was only one recipient of this fund in 2019.

Hyemin Pomerantz, M.D., of the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York, will be using this grant to research the “Comparison of energy-based devices in the treatment of atrophic acne scars utilizing objective measurement with a new 3D imaging system.”