Chairman Nestor discusses highlights of South Beach Symposium

Mark S. Nestor, MD, PhD, symposium chair, spoke with Healio.com/Aesthetics about the highlights of the upcoming South Beach Symposium in Miami, including the exhibit hall, practice management panels and live patient demonstrations.

Nestor, who founded the symposium 15 years ago with the Florida Society of Dermatology, spoke about the unique educational opportunities at South Beach Symposium. For one, the symposium’s panels will take place in one room, with one separate room for the practice management courses.

“That one room means you don’t have to sit and choose between learning about pediatric dermatology or learning about aesthetics or learning about clinical psoriasis. You really can sit and learn everything from the top leaders,” Nestor said. “And that’s what makes so many other meetings so difficult, because they run so many rooms you really have to pick and choose on what you want to learn.”

Along with nearly 40 hours of CME activities, the program includes several live patient demonstrations, including fat sculpting and skin tightening, advanced techniques for aesthetic devices, fillers and toxins, absorbable lifting sutures and combined therapy.

The two sessions that Nestor is particularly excited about are the live patient demonstration of absorbable lifting sutures and a session on anti-aging. Anti-aging medicine, in Nestor’s opinion, is something that all physicians in the industry need to learn about, as it is something patients will be seeking.

On the topic of upcoming products and industry pipeline, the symposium will host a “Futures in Innovations” session and a CEO panel roundtable from top dermatology and aesthetics industry leaders. At the CEO panel, Humberto Antunes, previous CEO and chairman of Nestlé Skin Health, will be presented with a lifetime achievement award for his 25 years of service in the industry.

In the symposium’s second room, physicians and their office personnel can learn how to improve their practice management as well as hear industry leaders discuss future concerns.

“Practice management has become a critical part of how dermatologists work, because it’s one thing to see patients; it’s another thing to run a business. And we are running a business,” Nestor said. “So we have many aspects … for the dermatologists and for their office staff to learn about things like MACRA and what’s going to be in the future for payment models, to learn about how to properly consent, to learn about how to manage expectations, for documentation, for HIPPA, OSHA, for all of these things, how to best market the practice in this digital age.

Nestor also spoke about an investor forum, a part of the practice management program, that will discuss practice consolidation and educate physicians on how to get the best value for their practice.

“South Beach offers a very unique opportunity to hear from the top thought leaders in clinical and aesthetic dermatology, plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine,” Nestor said in conclusion. “They can go to one place and they can learn and see what is cutting edge in every aspect that touches their practice. It’s been my pleasure to chair this the last 15 years and I’m very, very proud that this year is probably the best ever in terms of this meeting.” – by Talitha Bennett

For more information, visit www.southbeachsymposium.org.