Exclusive: An Interview with Dr. Paola Pasquali

The EADV Congress is billed as Europe’s largest international meeting focused on dermatology and venereology, providing a platform for researchers, clinicians, and industry professionals from around the world to exchange knowledge, network, and present their latest research findings. “Most esteemed figures in the field of dermatology and venereology from Europe, USA, Asia, and other continents will share their latest insights in clinics and clinical research,” EADV president Dr. Martin Röcken said in a letter on the organization’s website.

Practical Dermatology spoke exclusively with Dr. Paola Pasquali, a member of the congress’s Scientific Program Committee, about the benefits of bringing together professionals from around the world in this type of setting.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT INSIGHTS FROM SPECIFIC PARTS OF THE WORLD THAT WILL BE SHARED WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD AT THE CONGRESS? 

Our Congress is becoming increasingly international. We have more people every time, including more people from outside Europe. That makes it a very international program. For instance, a session presented by the Latin American society is part of the program. We also have other international societies that will participate and bring dermatology knowledge from outside Europe. Europe itself already has quite a diverse dermatology community because we have so many countries with so many different realities. 

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC INSIGHTS THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO FROM ANY OF THOSE ASSOCIATIONS OR ANY OF THOSE AREAS? 

The world is becoming more and more globalized, so diseases that might have been exotic in the past are no longer so much so. In our program, we're trying to give updates on all the medical conditions that everybody sees. For instance, the Latin Americans will focus more on certain medical conditions that we might not see so frequently, but there are conditions like vitiligo that are present everywhere and with pigmentary conditions. We are really concentrating on ensuring that there is a representation of different conditions in different types of skins and how to treat medical diseases on a diverse spectrum. We try to have everything present. The scientific committee itself is diverse as we try to ensure that we cover as broad a range as possible. 

IS IT ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY, PERHAPS, FOR PEOPLE FROM SOME MORE TIGHTLY REGULATED COUNTRIES TO SEE THINGS THAT MAY NOT YET BE APPROVED WHERE THEY ARE BUT MAY BE WORKING WELL ELSEWHERE? 

One of the big differences that we have in Europe is that Europe is not one country. Each country has their own rules. Certain medications may not be permitted here or there. But that is the beauty of it because our conference always has programs with professors who come from the United States, from India, from China, from Japan. We try to have the best people speaking on what their research has shown. It works because, from there, you motivate the audience as they learn how things are done differently in other parts of the world. It is a very rich experience that you get from participating, and I'm not saying this because I belong to the European Academy. I participate in many congresses, and I find that the European Academy provides a more open way of considering and understanding conditions. For instance, in Spain, we do more teledermatology than most other countries. During our meetings, we always share our experiences with teledermatology and how we think things should be done. Doctors from other countries look to us for guidance on how we do this and they learn from us, and then we learn from others how they do other procedures.

ARE THERE ANY SPECIFIC PRESENTATIONS THAT YOU'RE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO? 

This year's program is really focused on residents because, in the end, we need a new generation of dermatologists who are well prepared. We have a whole track dedicated to them. Many young dermatologists, because of economic and other reasons pursue cosmetics, but we need more dermatologists doing clinical work, everyday dermatology. This is a reality everywhere in the world. Our president has also emphasized issues regarding the environment and understanding what diseases might become more prevalent with climate change. I invite the American audience to participate in our programs. I think they're going to be amazed of the experience of participating in a European congress. More and more people are coming to our congresses because we provide a different experience. I would invite the American audience to come over this year to Amsterdam, participate, and network with the European colleagues.