The night before the 72nd annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology took Denver by storm, a newly formed nonprofit group—Advancing Innovation in Dermatology (AID)—quietly donated $50,000 to support the Magic Wand Initiative and its quest to solve some of the most vexing dermatological problems.
The first grant seeks to develop a tool for a more accurate diagnosis of cellulitis. No, cellulitis is not as sexy as say, treating cellulite with laser energy, but it’s a lot more important. Cellulitis is often misdiagnosed, resulting in fatal consequences and increasing health care costs.
Daniela Kroshinsky, MD, MPH, an assistant professor in dermatology, Harvard Medical School, and director of Pediatric Dermatology and director of Inpatient Dermatology, Education and Research, at Massachusetts General Hospital and MassGeneral Hospital for Children, will spearhead the project.
“The misdiagnosis of cellulitis is one example of a major clinical and financial challenge that needs a little magic, in the form of Dr Daniela Kroshinsky,” says Rox Anderson, MD, in a news release. Anderson is the creator of the Magic Wand Initiative and a professor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, director of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and adjunct professor of Health Sciences at MIT.
Next on the Magic Wand wish list of problems that need solutions includes the epidemic of Kaposi’s sarcoma in Africa and the development of a medical-grade sunscreen, explains William Ju, MD AID president, trustee, and one of its founding members. “The goal of AID is to build an ecosystem of stakeholder with a shared interest in innovation,” he tells PSP.
