2023 Annual Conference Recordings - Improving Challenging Medical Conditions with Laser and Energy-Based Devices

Biography: Dr. Christine C. Dierickx, MD, received her M.D. degree from the medical school program of the University of Leuven, Belgium and completed a dermatology residency at the same university. She then developed clinical expertise in phlebology during a two-year fellowship with Professor Neuman in the Netherlands. Subsequently, she finished a clinical laser fellowship with Dr. R. Fitzpatrick in San Diego, California, and a Mohs fellowship with Dr. F. Mohs in Madison, Wisconsin. During a two-year laser fellowship with Dr. R. Rox Anderson at Massachusetts General Hospital of Harvard University, she developed research laser expertise in various fields. The projects on vascular lesions draw directly upon her research on the thermal relaxation time of ectatic blood vessels. She established the need of millisecond laser pulses for the treatment of vascular lesions and showed that the formation of gentle cavitations driven by a slow photothermal process underlies the destruction of blood vessels with the longer millisecond laser pulses. For this work, she received the Best Basic Science Award of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. Subsequently, she became a full-time staff member of the Wellman Laboratories at Harvard. During this time, she conducted research projects with long pulsed ruby and diode lasers for hair removal. She returned to Europe in early 1999, where she is currently in private practice in Luxembourg. She served as Vice president for the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery in 2006-2007. In 2013 she was the recipient of the Vasant Orwal Oration van de British Medical Laser Society. In April 2016 she received the Leon Goldman memoriam award from the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. She continues to be involved in the development of new applications for energy-based devices as well as new applications for photodynamic therapy. Dr. Dierickx has published and lectured nationally and internationally in the field of laser surgery and photodynamic therapy.

Dr. Fernanda H. Sakamoto, MD, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor in Dermatology at the Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA since 2006. She is a fellow of the AAD, fellow of the American Society of Lasers in Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS), a member of the Société Française de Dermatologie; of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology, of the Brazilian Society of Dermatological Surgery, of the Brazilian Group of Melanoma and of the International Society of Dermoscopy. She is a physician-scientist and board-certified Dermatologist from Brazil. Dr. Sakamoto’s research interests include laser and device therapies, PDT, acne, skin cancer, wound healing, and new material science. Working with translational and clinical sciences in academia and industry is Dr. Sakamoto’s field of interest. Currently her work is focused on the development of new light-based treatments for acne and atopic dermatitis. Dr. Sakamoto is a Co-Director of the Education Committee of the Wellman Center/MGH since 2017 and has served on the ASLMS Education, International Committees, Research and Development Committee and Women in Energy Based Devices Committee of which she was the Chair in 2021. She was the Program Chair of the 2022 ASLMS Annual Meeting and has received Best Overall Scientific Award, Best Clinical Science Award (twice) and Bast Basic Science Award, the Horace Furimoto Award for Innovation and the Ellet Drake Memorial Award for innovative laser procedures by the same society.   

Dr. Sakamoto has contributed with over 30 scientific and clinical publications in peer-reviewed journals, and over a dozen book chapters in the major Dermatology textbooks.  She is an inventor on seven US and international patents on innovations in Dermatology. She has contributed to the creation of FDA approved technologies, including the micro-coring device for skin tightening; and Dr. Sakamoto is the primary inventor of laser for acne treatment. 

She has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology for 4 years and was Guest Editor of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine in 2012. Dr. Sakamoto maintains a cosmetic laser/device clinic in Brazil, and as a founding member of the Dream Beam Foundation, she is actively creating a free clinic and training center in Sao Paulo. In the past, has treated native Indians in the Amazon jungle. Dr. Sakamoto also works as a consultant to multiple laser and cosmetic companies in the US. Dr. Sakamoto lives in Boston with her husband, Rox Anderson, her 3 boys under the age of 8 years old and her little dog, BB.

Molly Wanner, M.D., M.B.A., is a board-certified dermatologist who specializes in laser and cosmetic dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an assistant professor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wanner conducts clinical and basic science research in the areas of cosmetic and laser dermatology. Her research interested include topical cosmetic products and laser and cosmetic devices.

Dr. Wanner has authored numerous scientific publications and is frequently used as a clinical expert source. Dr. Wanner is a board member of the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Wanner also contributes to popular consumer media.

Merete Haedersdal, MD, PhD, DMSc is a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and director of the Danish Research Center for Skin Cancer. She is a visiting scientist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, focusing on the project “Laser-Assisted Drug Delivery” in collaboration with Dr. R. Rox Anderson and his team. Dr. Haedersdal received her MD degree from the Medical School program of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and was authorized as a specialist in dermato-venereology in 2004. Dr. Haedersdal received her PhD degree in 1997 and became Dr. of Medical Science in 1999. Her theses covered aspects of side effects from dermatological laser procedures in animal and human experimental studies. Professor Haedersdal has published more than 250 scientific papers and lectures internationally. Her research team focuses on translational medicine in the field of lasers and energy-based devices in dermatology, imaging-guided procedures, fractional laser-assisted drug delivery, photodynamic therapy, and treatment of skin cancer with light-based devices in combination with topically applied drugs.

Peter Shumaker, MD, retired as a Captain in the United States Navy having spent more than a third of his 22 years of service as Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). Dr. Shumaker completed a Procedural Dermatology fellowship at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, CA, and has since developed a special focus in Mohs surgery and laser medicine. Dr. Shumaker and colleagues have been dedicated to facilitating the functional and cosmetic recovery of wounded warriors and other patients with traumatic scarring and other related injuries. He has presented nationally and internationally on cutting edge scar management, co-authored articles published in top journals from 7 different medical specialties, led an annual national multidisciplinary Summit on trauma rehabilitation, served as team lead for a multi-year engagement in burn scar revision and restorative medicine in Vietnam, and served as co-Editor for The Scar Book published in 2017, the first comprehensive textbook on scar pathophysiology and management. He previously served on the Editorial Board for the Society publication Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. He continues his service to veterans as Chief of Dermatology at the VA San Diego and he is a non-salaried Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego.