A Podcast By and For Dermatology APPs
In this inaugural episode of SkinSync, hosts Shanna Miranti, a dermatology PA from Naples, Florida, and Buchi Neita, a dermatology PA from Georgia, introduce what they describe as one of the first podcasts built specifically for dermatology PAs and nurse practitioners by dermatology PAs and nurse practitioners. Their goal is straightforward: real clinician perspectives and expert guest insights on everyday dermatology topics, with practical takeaways clinicians can actually use.
Miranti and Neita frame the podcast as a way to advance the conversation beyond the organization's live meetings. As their guest, founder Matthew Brunner, PA-C, explains, the format lets the audience submit ideas for topics that need discussion while giving the team a channel to elevate hot-button issues affecting daily clinical practice and raise awareness of changing needs and evolving clinical practices.
How Elevate-Derm Started
Matthew tells Shanna and Buchi that he has practiced dermatology as a PA for 24 and a half years just outside Atlanta, and that education became first a hobby and then a passion as he recognized the need for PAs and NPs to provide advanced education for their own colleagues to improve patient care.
After getting involved with state societies and then national organizations working on their education, Brunner saw a need to differentiate the level of learning available. His observation: clinicians who have practiced dermatology for more than a few years have different educational needs than those earlier in practice. That insight drove the creation of Elevate-Derm, which began forming in 2019 and launched in 2020 — right into the unique set of challenges posed by the COVID pandemic.
From Advanced Education to the RAPIDS Immunology Focus
Brunner explains that the educational goals have evolved as learners voiced additional needs. The summer and fall meetings remain general dermatology conferences aimed at advanced learners, but this past year the team saw strong demand for deeper immunology education.
That gap led to the launch of RAPIDS — the Relevant Advanced Practice Immuno-Dermatology Symposium — which was underway during the taping of this episode. Brunner notes that when he started in dermatology two decades ago, he described the field as the 'creams, lotions, and potions' specialty, but the science has advanced to where clinicians now work at the cellular level and much of the field is becoming immunology-based.
He also pushes back on the idea that dermatology is practiced in a silo. Much of what dermatology APPs do affects patient comorbidities and the work of colleagues in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and allergy and immunology. RAPIDS is built around that interdisciplinary, collaborative approach.
The Alliance and What Comes Next
Brunner describes the Elevate-Derm Alliance as more than a conference. To him, the Alliance brings PAs and NPs together as colleagues who share common educational needs and gaps, and who can better meet those needs by collaborating. Alongside the conferences, that means year-round education, a long-running blog, educational videos, and a recently launched membership.
Membership in the Alliance is free for dermatology PAs and NPs; clinicians simply sign up to access additional resources, with more resources planned. The SkinSync podcast, Brunner says, is just one example of what the Alliance is offering.
Asked to pull out a crystal ball for the future of Elevate-Derm, RAPIDS, and the Alliance, Brunner keeps it audience-driven: the direction is up to the members and what PAs and NPs in dermatology say they need. The plan is to keep evolving with the times to best support clinicians as professionals and to advance patient care. Miranti and Neita close by inviting listeners to send topic ideas and to subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.