Melinda Gooderham, MD, is a dermatologist and the medical director at the SKiN Centre for Dermatology.

Melinda Gooderham, MD

A group of 9 experts reflect on what they are looking forward to most in 2025 following the AAD annual meeting. 

Expert Perspectives: Dermatology's Top Story to Watch in 2025

Although nearly all medical professionals can point to a “flagship” meeting or annual conference for their specialty, few serve the same role as or measure up to what the 

American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting

A testament to the draw and magnitude of the AAD’s annual showcase, the 2025 annual meeting, which was held in Orlando, Florida, from March 07-11, 2025, had more than 20,000 registered attendees. In addition to being the field’s largest meeting, one of the unique aspects of the AAD annual meeting is its placement on the calendar. While many organizations opt for end of year or mid-year meetings, the AAD annual meeting typically occurs in Q1 and, for many, sets the tone for the remainder of the year.

With this in mind, the editorial team of HCPLive Dermatology included a simple question on the end of our interviews from the meeting with 9 leading subject matter experts in dermatology: “What is going to be the most important storyline to watch for dermatology for the rest of 2025?”

In the above video, we highlight the perspectives of these experts. Below, you can find a brief summary of the backgrounds and expertise of each individual included in this feature video.

, is a professor and vice chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Perelman School of Medicine. She also serves as president of the American Academy of Dermatology.

, is chairman at Innovaderm Research. He is also the principal investigator of the ICONIC-LEAD trial, which was presented at AAD 2025.

, is a dermatologist and internal medicine specialist with Riverchase Dermatology.

, is an associate professor of Dermatology for the USC Keck School of Medicine. She is the founding director of the USC Skin of Color and Pigmentary Disorders Program and also the president of the Skin of Color Society.

, is the owner of Medical Dermatology Specialists, chief of inpatient dermatology at BannerHealth, and the founder of US Dermatology Partners.

, is a dermatologist and the medical director at the SKiN Centre for Dermatology.

, is an associate professor in dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine.

, is the director of the Advanced Acne Therapeutics Clinic at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the co-chair of the American Academy of Dermatology Acne Guidelines Work Group.

, is vice chair of research in dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and director of the Mark Lebwohl Center for Neuroinflammation and Sensation.

Videos

In new data, significant improvements were observed in patient-related outcomes during the phase 3 ARRECTOR trial assessing roflumilast foam 0.3% in those aged ≥12 years with 

The ARRECTOR study findings, demonstrating the efficacy of roflumilast foam 0.3% as a once-daily therapy for scalp and body psoriasis, were presented by Melinda Gooderham, MD, trial investigator and medical director at the SKiN Centre for Dermatology. Gooderham spoke with 

 at AAD 2025 about the findings’ significance.

Findings on Roflumilast Foam 0.3% for Scalp and Body Psoriasis, with Melinda Gooderham, MD

“It was a combination, as you mentioned, of both scalp and body so they had to have at least moderate IGA of scalp psoriasis, at least a mild Body-IGA psoriasis, a [Psoriasis Scalp Severity Index] score of 6 or greater, but the overall body surface area had to be less than 25%,” Gooderham said. “The patients were randomized in a 2 to 1 fashion to use either roflumilast foam once-daily on both the scalp and body areas or vehicle, and that was done for 8 weeks.”

Gooderham highlighted that Scalp-Investigator Global Assessment (S-IGA) and mild on the Body-IGA (B-IGA) success at the 8-week mark were the co-primary endpoints of her team’s research. She was asked what the most notable findings had been on roflumilast foam.

“So for the proportion of patients who achieved scalp-IGA success at Week 8 was two thirds of the participants, whereas almost half achieved body-IGA success using using the foam,” Gooderham said. “But this poster for this meeting was focusing on the patient reported outcomes. When we think about, you know, control for patients, we want to see little to no itch. So a Scalp Itch-NRS of 0 to 1, which is little to no itch, was achieved by more than half of patients. Similarly, with the Worst-Itch NRS of 0 or 1 which is little to no itch was again, over 50% of patients were able to achieve that high bar of itch control, which is what's important especially for patients with scalp psoriasis.”

There had also been significant reduction in itch within as early as 24 hours in previously-presented data from this analysis. Most treatment emergent adverse event (TEAEs) were noted by investigators as being mild or moderate in both the roflumilast arm (96.0%) and the vehicle arm (92.0%). Only 5.7% and 2.0% were considered by the research team to be related to the treatment, respectively.

“There's a concern that we want to make sure it's also working the same in the real world as it does in the clinical trial setting,” Gooderham explained. “So we have this 8 weeks, a very controlled setting, and to now see that we have the product available for patients and make sure that we're seeing the same levels of response in the real world that we did in the clinical trials, that's always the first step to make sure that it translates into our daily practice.”

To find out more about roflumilast foam 0.3% and its latest data, view the full interview posted above. For more from AAD 2025, view our 

The quotes contained in this summary were edited for the purposes of clarity. Gooderham has reported non-financial support from Arcutis and personal fees from Aceylrin, AbbVie, Arcutis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Galderma, Incyte, Janssen, LEO Pharma, Meiji, Dermavant, Moonlake, Nektar, Nimbus, Novartis, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, Tarsus, Takeda, UCB, Union, Ventyx, Apogee, AnaptysBio, Aristea, and L'Oreal.

Gooderham M, Alonso-Llamazares J, Chu D, et al. Roflumilast Foam 0.3% in Patients With Scalp and Body Psoriasis: Improvements in Patient-Reported Outcomes (ARRECTOR). Presented at the 2025 American Academy of Dermatology (ADA) Annual Meeting. Orlando, FL. March 07-11, 2025.

This interview with Melinda Gooderham, MD, covers recent findings from the phase 3 ARRECTOR trial on roflumilast foam 0.3% in scalp and body psoriasis.

Melinda Gooderham, MD

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