ASLMS 2019 Promotes Medical Excellence

JUSTINE MURPHY, SENIOR EDITOR justine.murphy@photonics.com

Lasers, laser systems, and related applications will take the spotlight March 27-31 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver during the conference of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS). Focuses include nursing, patient experience, imaging, photobiomodulation, and laser-assisted drug delivery. This 39th annual event brings together scientists, clinicians, residents, and students, as well as health care professionals and other industry experts to learn, share, investigate, and develop ideas for clinical applications that are changing the world of patient care.

The 39th annual ASLMS conference and exhibition will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Courtesy of Matt Wright/Wikipedia.

Conference highlights include specialty sessions that provide detailed information about specific areas of laser and other energy-based applications. Courses, breakout sessions, and individual lectures are also on tap.

Courses

A number of courses — short sessions as well as all-day assemblies — will be held throughout the ASLMS conference, providing continuing medical education for physicians in various fields. Among the offerings:

Optimizing Patient Outcomes: Laser Modality Selection and Clinical Endpoints
Treatment of Vascular Lesions
Resurfacing and Rejuvenation
Cutaneous Medical Applications for Energy-Based Devices
Laser Learning Labs
Treatments and Techniques for Combining Injectables with Lasers and Energy-Based Devices
Basic Mechanisms of Photobiomodulation
Devices in Women’s Genitourinary Health: Scientific Fundamentals
Clinical Applications: Multi-Specialty • Laser and Energy-Based Treatments for Leg Veins

Speakers

Dr. Scott Parazynski — a physician, astronaut, and tech CEO — will be the keynote speaker at the ASLMS conference, addressing areas such as research, innovation, leadership, and risk management.

A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Parazynski conducted research at the NASA Ames Research Center after receiving a NASA graduate student fellowship. He joined NASA’s Astronaut Corps in the early 1990s, eventually flying five space shuttle missions and conducting seven spacewalks. Among his missions, he participated in a global ozone-mapping flight, led the first joint U.S.-Russian spacewalk, served as Senator John Glenn’s personal physician, and helped assemble the Canadian-built space station robotic arm. In 2016, he was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Dr. Scott Parazynski will give the keynote address at the 2019 ASLMS conference. He is a physician, former NASA astronaut and researcher, and founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies.

Parazynski is now founder and CEO of Fluidity Technologies, which designs and develops software and components that operate drones and helicopters. The products are also used in surgical and medical robotics as well as VR/AR systems, among others.

Panelists from various medical specialties will participate in “A Celebration of Women in Energy-Based Devices.” They include Dr. Lilit Garibyan, a dermatologist with Massachusetts Dermatology Associates and a lecturer and researcher in dermatology at Harvard Medical School; Dr. Kristen M. Kelly of UCI Health; Liz P. Newman of Surface Clinical, who is a fellow member of the ASLMS and former member of the Society of Plastic Surgery Skin Care Specialists; and Dr. Thanh-Nga T. Tran, a dermatologist at Milford Regional Medical Center in Massachusetts.

The Celebration of Women will also include the presentation of the Early Career Development Award (recipient to be announced). The ASLMS Leadership, Mentorship and Public Advocacy for Women in Medical Science Award will be presented as well. This year’s recipient is Dr. Merete Haedersdal, associate clinical professor of dermatology and director of the Laser Dermatology Clinic at Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Featured speaker Dr. Suzanne L. Kilmer, founder of the Laser and Skin Surgery Center of Northern California and a clinical professor at the University of California, Davis, will participate in one of several Ask Me Anything panel discussions.

These question-and-answer sessions provide attendees the opportunity to listen to and participate in open dialogues focused on devices and clinical approaches, in addition to personal recommendations for practice. Kilmer will be joined by hosts Dr. Arielle N.B. Kauvar, director of New York Laser and Skin Care; Dr. Brian D. Zelickson, of Zel Skin and Laser Specialists in Minnesota; and Dr. Roy G. Geronemus, director of the Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York.

For more information, visit www.aslms.org/annual-conference-2019.