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Presentation

2026 AAD Plenary: Honoring Dermatology Advances, Leadership, and Making the Unseen Seen

Description

At the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology plenary session, the speaker introduced the meeting’s emphasis on clinical advances, collaboration, and honoring award recipients, then delivered a wide-ranging acceptance lecture for the John Kenny Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. He reflected on Dr. Kenny’s legacy of “making the unseen seen,” crediting mentors, colleagues, family, and institutions in Detroit, Michigan. The talk highlighted his career in vitiligo research, including the development of the VASI scoring system and efforts to show that vitiligo is a significant psychosocial disease, not merely a cosmetic one. He also discussed photomedicine research showing that visible light affects pigmentation and erythema, leading to improved sunscreen strategies, and described work on post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation models and major advances in hidradenitis suppurativa care, including laser treatments, large patient populations, and the growth of the HS Foundation. He shared how service, mission, and teamwork guided responses during COVID-19, when his group repurposed UV systems to disinfect masks and reduce infection. Throughout, he emphasized leadership rooted in compassion, inclusion, patient-centered research, and community service, closing with a personal poem and gratitude before receiving applause and formal congratulations from the AAD.

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Conclusions

The presentation argues that dermatology should focus on measuring and treating the outcomes that matter most to patients, not just the visible skin findings.
Vitiligo is presented as a major psychosocial disease whose burden includes identity shock, depression, and reduced quality of life, especially in people with darker skin types and more visible lesions.
The VASI scoring system is described as a major advance that made vitiligo severity measurable, standardized clinical trials, and helped enable FDA-approved therapies.
Visible light is shown to be an important and previously underappreciated contributor to pigmentation, erythema, and photobiologic responses, especially in skin of color.
The research supports that sun protection should address visible light as well as UV light, leading to newer tinted and antioxidant-containing sunscreens.
A validated model for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation was developed, allowing PIH to be studied more rigorously and tested with therapies.
Hidradenitis suppurativa is portrayed as a profoundly burdensome disease with physical, psychological, and financial harms and one of the highest suicide risks in dermatology.
Laser-based and procedural approaches, especially Nd:YAG and CO2-based strategies, appear to improve hidradenitis suppurativa and have become part of modern management.
The talk concludes that mission-driven, collaborative, patient-centered teams and foundations are essential for advancing care in underfunded diseases.
The broader message is that running toward neglected problems, building partnerships, and making the unseen visible can transform both science and patient care.

Ko, Lyons, Kohli, Narla, Torres, Miller, Ozog, Hamzavi, and Lim. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed, 2022.