In this session from Masterclasses in Dermatology Saturday Morning Live, Dr. Joseph F. Merola sits down with Dr. Alice B. Gottlieb -- dermatologist, rheumatologist, and one of the field's foremost experts in HS -- for a focused clinical conversation on where hidradenitis suppurativa treatment is headed.

Dr. Gottlieb walks through the current unmet needs in HS care, from better systemic control and earlier intervention to access, stigma, and multidisciplinary coordination. From there, the conversation shifts to the emerging pipeline: nanobodies targeting IL-17A/F and TNF/OX40L, BTK inhibitor remibrutinib, JAK inhibitors povorcitinib and upadacitinib, dual IL-1 alpha/beta blockade with lutikizumab, and newer IL-1 beta-targeted agents with Phase 2 data reported just days before this recording.

The discussion also covers combination therapy, the HS/Crohn's diagnostic overlap, procedural and surgical considerations, and the case for patient advocacy and reimbursement reform.

This episode is built for dermatologists, NPs, PAs, and any HCP managing HS patients who wants a working knowledge of the treatment landscape right now -- not a theoretical overview.

This podcast recording is for educational purposes only and does not offer CME credit. Want CME credit? Attend the next Saturday Morning Live session — free to register at mcdsml.com.

Thank you for listening.

Dermatologists, NPs, and PAs: this session cuts straight to the clinical questions that matter most in atopic dermatitis right now.

Dr. Shawn Kwatra, MD — chair of dermatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of its dedicated itch center — joins hosts Joseph Merola, MD, MMSc, FAAD, FACR and Alice Gottlieb, MD, PhD to break down the neuroimmune biology of chronic itch, why pruritus persists even after skin clears, and what to do about it in your next clinic.

Topics covered:

• Why chronic itch is a neuroimmune disorder — not just a downstream symptom of inflammation
• The cytokine players: IL-4, IL-13, IL-31, TSLP, and how they directly sensitize sensory neurons
• Disease control redefined: the IEC consensus statement on low disease activity and remission in AD (published in JAMA Dermatology)
• What to do when skin clears but itch doesn't — JAK inhibitors, IL-31 inhibition, and neuromodulators
• Bispecific and trispecific approaches: why AD's biological redundancy may require layered targeting
• OX40 and OX40 ligand: the upstream "prequel to inflammation" and its potential for off-therapy remission
• Phenotype-driven treatment: TH17/TH22 involvement, skin of color presentations, and where the field is heading
• Device-based modalities: phototherapy, TENS units, cold plasma — what the evidence actually supports

Want CME credit? Attend the next Saturday Morning Live session — free to register at mcdsml.com.

Thank you for listening.

Dermatologists and rheumatologists may be the first clinicians to catch cardiovascular disease in patients with psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, and cutaneous lupus — but most aren't screening for it systematically. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Merola and Dr. Alice Gottlieb (dermatologist-rheumatologists, UT Southwestern Medical Center) are joined by Dr. Brittany Weber, one of the first cardiodermatologists in the United States, to lay out the clinical case for owning cardiovascular risk assessment in inflammatory skin disease.

The discussion covers why standard CV risk calculators underestimate risk in this patient population, how the PREVENT calculator improves on the pooled cohort equation by incorporating lifetime risk and younger-age calibration, and what a practical screening workflow looks like across different practice settings — from academic medical centers to community dermatology. Dr. Weber also breaks down when to manage risk in-house, when to refer to primary care, and when to send directly to a preventive cardiologist.

The episode closes with a forward-looking discussion on imaging: coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring, coronary CT angiography, cardiac MRI, and the emerging use of AI algorithms to identify unrecognized cardiovascular burden in CT scans already sitting in the medical record.

Hosted by Masterclasses in Dermatology Saturday Morning Live — a free virtual education series for dermatologists, nurse practitioners, and physician associates produced by HMP Global.

Thank you for listening.

The bar for treating psoriasis has moved dramatically — from PASI 50 to PASI 75 to complete clearance — and the field is now seriously asking whether remission is an achievable clinical goal, not just an aspirational one. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Merola and Dr. Alice Gottlieb break down how remission is currently defined in dermatology, where those definitions came from, and what they actually mean for patients in the clinic.

The conversation covers the NPF's recently published on-treatment remission criteria for plaque psoriasis, the concept of the molecular scar — what's still happening under visibly clear skin — and why tissue-resident memory T cells may be the reason patients who stop therapy don't always get back to where they were. Dr. Merola also presents new AAD data applying remission definitions to real-world trial outcomes with bimekizumab and guselkumab, including how many patients sustained on-treatment remission at three and five years.

From there, the discussion expands to atopic dermatitis, where Dr. Merola led the International Eczema Council consensus on low disease activity and remission — now in press at JAMA Dermatology — and to psoriatic arthritis, where a similar framework is actively in development. Dr. Gottlieb draws on her rheumatology background to examine what dermatology should borrow from RA and PsA remission models, and where the analogy breaks down.

The episode closes on the question of cure — what it would actually require, what early-intervention data in guttate psoriasis suggests, and how far off a true immune reset really is.

Hosted by Masterclasses in Dermatology Saturday Morning Live, a free virtual education series for dermatologists, nurse practitioners, and physician associates.

Thank you for listening.