Welcome to RDS' Summer Newsletter

A Message from the President

Dear RDS Members,

It’s a true honor and privilege to serve as RDS’ President. I’m grateful to my colleagues for their trust, support, and partnership as we lead our organization into a bright future. 

I’m excited to announce our 2026 Annual Meeting, taking place November 7^th at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, FL, held adjacent to the ACR meeting. I look forward to seeing you there.

RDS has been deeply important to me personally and professionally. It has been one of the most formative communities in my career: a place where I found mentors, collaborators, colleagues, and friends who helped shape the way I think about our field and the patients we serve.

For many of us, RDS has provided a unique academic and clinical home for the complex diseases that sit at the intersection of dermatology, rheumatology, immunology, and internal medicine.

This is an extraordinary moment for our society. For one, the therapeutic and research pipelines around the conditions RDS champions have never been more promising. As these opportunities grow, it’s increasingly important that RDS continue to serve as the central interface between dermatology, rheumatology, and other specialties.

I’m also proud to help usher in a new chapter for RDS. With the support of our Board, and in partnership with Amanda Pacia as our new Executive Director, we’ve strengthened the society’s infrastructure and raised an unprecedented level of support for this year’s meeting and for the future mission of RDS.

I’m excited to share that we’ve achieved an almost three-fold increase in funding compared with prior years! (With $340,000 corporate support committed for 2026.)

This support will allow us not only to deliver an outstanding annual meeting, but also to expand our impact over time through mentorship programs, trainee and early-career engagement, research initiatives, and broader educational efforts. We look forward also to awarding RDS’ inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

We are at a true inflection point. RDS has the opportunity to deeply influence the future of our field, to support the next generation of leaders, and to improve care for patients with some of the most challenging and consequential diseases in medicine.

To sustain this momentum, I encourage each of you to continue sharing industry contacts, building connections, and promoting the RDS mission and value in your interactions with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders across the field.

Thank you for being a critical part of this community. I encourage you to invite colleagues, collaborators, trainees, and friends to join us and help expand the RDS circle. The future of our organization is incredibly bright, and I'm honored to work alongside all of you as we build it together.

With gratitude,

Joseph F. Merola, MD, MMSc



President

Rheumatologic Dermatology Society

Chair of Dermatology

Professor of Dermatology

Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology

Professor, Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health (OSPH)

UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX