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Miller School Faculty Elected 2023 President and Vice President of the American Academy of Dermatology

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has announced that Robert S. Kirsner, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the Miller School of Medicine, has been elected vice president, and Terrence A. Cronin, Jr., M.D., assistant voluntary professor of dermatology, has been elected president of the AAD. Both will begin their leadership roles in March 2023.

Dr. Robert Kirsner

Drs. Kirsner and Cronin share more than faculty positions at the Miller School.

“Dr. Kirsner and I did our dermatology residency together at the University of Miami. When I was a junior resident, Rob was my chief resident, and I learned an awful lot at his side,” Dr. Cronin said. “It is a real thrill to be reunited in leadership and to have ‘cut our teeth’ at the University of Miami Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery.”

To have two faculty leading the specialty speaks to the global prominence of the Miller School, Dr. Kirsner said.

“As president and vice president, we will be able to extend the impact of our department nationally and internationally,” Dr. Kirsner said. “But this also is going to be fun. Terry and I are good friends. We trust each other implicitly and know that we have our hearts exactly where they should be for the good of the specialty, patients, and AAD members. United, I think we can make a major difference in dermatologists’ and patients’ lives.”

Both doctors have long given back to the specialty. Dr. Cronin has presided over the Florida Society of Dermatologic Surgeons, the Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, and the American Society for Mohs Surgery. Dr. Kirsner is past president of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care and the Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery.

“Certainly, this is a culmination of service to the specialty,” Dr. Cronin said.

Dr. Terrence A. Cronin

Dr. Terrence A. Cronin, Jr.,

As AAD president, Dr. Cronin will aim to guide the specialty and protect it from the forces that challenge it.

“One of the concerns that I ran on was the idea of scope of practice and truth in advertising. There are a lot of people out there who claim that they are dermatologists who have not done the residency and have not become board certified in our specialty,” Dr. Cronin said. “We have to make sure the public knows to go to residency-trained and board-certified dermatologists for all their skin health needs. We have to protect the public from false advertising.”

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery faculty have always emphasized to residents that they should work to make an impact beyond clinic walls, Dr. Kirsner said.

“We do this through research and discovery; we do this through education. This is another way that we can make an impact beyond that one patient we are seeing in our clinic at that moment, so that patients all over the country and the world will benefit,” Dr. Kirsner said. “For Dr. Cronin and me, this is an opportunity to give back to the specialty that has been such an important part of our lives for the last 30-some years.”

Tags: American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Robert Kirsner, Dr. Terrence A. Cronin