DERM DIALOGUE
SUMMER 2025
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Emily Rothstein, DVM, DACVD® | Southington, CT 06489 | E-mail: emily.bassell@cox.net
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dr. Verena K. Affolter
I am excited to enter my second year serving as the president of the Academy. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Klaus Loft, who rotated off as past president and Natalie Theus, who had to leave the board due to other obligations. Klaus has been a driving force in the AAVD Executive Board, and we are all grateful for his dedication to the task. As a member-at-large, Natalie has been crucial to initiating and implementing the virtual round tables offered by AAVD. The board members also would like to thank our previous secretary Amy Blankenhorn from the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) for her expert and tireless dedication to assist us in our tasks. We are excited to have Brendan Leahy taking over from Amy and supporting us. Currently the executive board includes
the following members: Rose Miller (Past President), Verena Affolter (President), Anna Jenstead (Vice President), Jennifer Thomas (Treasurer) and Brian Scott, Lara Tomich, Emily Binversie (Members-at-Large) and Jeanne Budgin (Acting Representative to WAVD). We would like to apologize for the gap offering Derm Dialogue in 2024; this has partially been due to re-assigning editorship after Norma White-Weithers retired as editor for Derm Dialogue over 12 years. We are tremendously thankful for Norma’s dedication fulfilling this task for so many years. We are grateful to Emily Rothstein for taking over this task and getting us back on track, offering this valuable source of information. Lots has happened since the last Derm Dialogue issue. We had a very successful 10th WCVD in Boston in July 2024. Under the skillful guidance of Catherine Outerbridge (President) and Emily Rothstein (Vice President), this meeting was packed with exciting information presented in six different concurrent tracks, workshops, wet labs, and wonderful social events for participants to catch up with friends. The AAVD would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this event one to remember. In April 2025, the NAVDF meeting was held in Orlando, Florida. The meeting was highly attended, and in addition to the scientific and clinical streams and roundtables, it offered an entire day for our Spanish-speaking colleagues, as well as sessions on artificial intelligence. Our next annual NAVDF meetings will be in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 30 - May 4, 2026, and in Anaheim, California, March 22-26, 2027. And then we will be ready for the 11th WCVD in Seville, Spain, September 6-10, 2028. Our Virtual Round Tables have been very popular and highly attended. The board would like to thank everyone who was involved in leading these round tables. Our goal is to offer up to 3 sessions each year, and I am grateful that Laura Tomich and Emily Binversie agreed to spearhead the organization of future sessions. Please do not hesitate to let us know any topics you would like to see addressed in a future roundtable. We are excited to acknowledge the two recipients of the Frank Král Award over the last 2 years. The Frank Král Award, first established in 1973, recognizes outstanding achievements and dedicated services to the veterinary profession and specialty of veterinary dermatology by current members of the AAVD. In 2024, this award was presented to Dr. Gail Kunkle, Professor Emerita at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she has served as a professor in Dermatology and acting Service Chief for many years.