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President's Column | October 2026
Our Profession Is Moving Forward
A few months into my presidency, one thing has become increasingly clear to me: the future of our profession deserves more of our attention—and DermPAs™ should have a meaningful role in shaping it.
We see where patients struggle to access care. We know which steps in a busy clinic help us deliver excellent care and which consume time without improving it. We experience the excitement of new treatments alongside the practical challenges of getting them to the people who need them.
That perspective is valuable. As we celebrate PA Week this October, I want us to recognize both what we contribute today and what we can help make possible next!
Creating More Room for Clinical Care
Being a PA continues to evolve. Our clinical responsibilities are growing alongside the complexity of dermatology, and our opportunities to contribute extend into education, research, leadership, and the way practices deliver care.
Yet professional growth also depends on the environment around us.
Practicing at the top of our licenses requires strong clinical preparation, effective collaboration, and workflows that allow us to use our training fully. When administrative tasks repeatedly interrupt clinical work, or access barriers delay treatment, our patients feel the consequences.
Better workflows and thoughtfully applied technology can help create more room for patient care. The value of greater efficiency is what allows us to evaluate a complex patient more thoroughly, counsel someone through a difficult treatment decision, or make care available sooner.
DermPAs should help guide those improvements. We understand where a process breaks down because we are often the ones working through it.
I want SDPA to help prepare our members for that broader role. Alongside exceptional clinical education, we need opportunities to understand emerging technologies, strengthen leadership skills, and contribute to decisions about how care is delivered. Experienced clinicians also need room to grow, pursue new challenges, and share the judgment they have developed over years of practice.
Making Our Experience Count
That same perspective shaped our advocacy in September.
In discussions with CMS and meetings on Capitol Hill, I emphasized what proposed Medicare payment changes could mean for patients and the practices caring for them. A patient who has arranged transportation, taken time away from work, and waited for an appointment needs us to make that visit count.
Working alongside the American Academy of Dermatology and other professional leaders reinforced the importance of bringing those everyday realities into policy conversations.
Thank you to everyone who responded to advocacy alerts and contacted their representatives. Your participation gives our profession a stronger voice. Please keep using it.
Hollywood Is Where We Take the Next Step
This November, DermScape in Hollywood, Florida, will bring these conversations together—and I am looking forward to what happens when we have our members in the same place.
Come ready to sharpen your clinical skills, but also to explore what your next chapter could look like.
Through Find Your Fit, you will have the opportunity to meet committee leaders and discover where your interests could contribute. Seek out a colleague whose career has taken a direction that interests you. Bring the question you have been working through in your practice. Introduce yourself to someone you have only known through a screen.
Some of the most valuable moments at a conference happen when a session ends and the conversation continues. A practical insight becomes something you try on Monday. An introduction becomes a mentorship. An idea finds someone willing to help move it forward.
That is the kind of experience I want us to create in Hollywood.
If you have been waiting for the right time to become more involved, make this your moment. If you are already part of our community, bring someone into it. And if you are still deciding whether to join us, consider what it would mean to spend a few days with people who understand your work and are thinking seriously about where our profession goes next.
Over these first months as President, I have become even more confident in what our members can accomplish together. I want you in the conversations that help shape what comes next.
Below, our Secretary/Treasurer, Joe Cari, shares how a single invitation changed his relationship with SDPA. His story is a reminder that your next professional opportunity may begin with a conversation you have not had yet.
I look forward to having those conversations with you in Hollywood.
Andrew Baker, MPA, MBA, PA-C
President, Society of Dermatology Physician Associates
A message from Secretary/Treasurer, Joe Cari
Leave It Better
For those I haven't had the opportunity to meet, I'm Joe Cari, a practicing DermPA, educator, and member of the SDPA Board of Directors. But my journey with SDPA didn't begin with aspirations of leadership. It began because someone told me to get involved.
When I started my career as a Dermatology PA, I didn't have a grand plan for where it would take me. I wasn't thinking about leadership, serving on a Board, or building programs for other DermPAs. I simply wanted to take good care of my patients and provide them with a personalized, quality experience.
My involvement with SDPA started just as simply.
A friend who was already involved in SDPA leadership saw something in me that I hadn't considered yet. She didn't really ask whether I wanted to volunteer. She told me:
“You are going to volunteer. You are going to be good.”
I was surprised. I was excited. And I knew I could do it.
Sometimes that's all it takes. Someone believing you have something to contribute and giving you the push to get started.
SDPA quickly became a creative outlet for me. It was a place where I could bring forward ideas, work alongside people who wanted to improve our profession, and actually build something. The more I volunteered, the more I wanted to contribute. The more I contributed, the more I wanted to serve.
Eventually, I began asking myself a simple question:
What do I wish I had when I started my career?
That question has guided me through much of the work I am most proud of. Through the Early Career DermPA Committee, the RISE mentorship program, and other initiatives for new DermPAs, I have tried to help create the resources, mentorship, education, and sense of belonging that I wish I had early in my own career.
My role within SDPA has changed over the years, but that philosophy hasn't.
Today, as the Secretary/Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors, I view myself first and foremost as a steward of the SDPA. This organization doesn't belong to the Board. It belongs to its members. It is built by its members and exists for its members. Our responsibility is to leave it strong enough to continue serving DermPAs long after our own time in leadership has ended.
When I'm eventually done with dermatology, I hope I can look back and say something very simple:
I left the SDPA better than I found it.
Someone once saw something in me and gave me the push to get involved.
Now it's my turn.
Get involved. You have more to contribute than you realize. Here is your push. You can do it. You have my permission.
Joe Cari, DMSc, PA-C
