Team

Kaitlyn Chan, holds a visiting appointment at KCL whilst studying to be a public health researcher at Brown University.  She joined GADA in early 2024, working on Evidence Synthesis and providing scientific writing support. 

Dr. Helen Alexander is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Dermatology and has undertaken her PhD on the role of the skin microbiome in atopic dermatitis. Her clinical work includes managing patients in the paediatric severe eczema clinic and patients participating in clinical trials. She will be co-leading the GADA-omics workstream.

Professor Katrina Abuabara is Professor of Dermatology and Computational Precision Health at the University of California, San Francisco as well as Associate Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Abuabara directs the Program for Clinical Research in the Department of Dermatology and is the principal investigator for the Atopic Dermatitis in Childhood and Risk of Early Cardiovascular Disease and the Social, Environmental, and Epigenetic Drivers of Atopic Dermatitis Disease Course. She designed the TARGET observational study of atopic dermatitis, an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Dermatology, is Chair of the American Academy of Dermatology's Diversity Task Force, and Co-Chair of the International Eczema Council's Research Committee.

Professor Valeria Aoki is Associate Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Immunodermatology Laboratory at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil. She is a co-investigator for a project working on the pathogenesis of pemphigus foliaceus. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Eczema Council, where she leads the Educational Committee. She is also the Editor of the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Clinics. 

Professor Christian Apfelbacher is Professor of Epidemiology and Health Systems at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany. He is Section Editor for the Area of Health Services Research in the Journal for Evidence, Training, and Quality in Healthcare. His key research interests lie within health services research, outcomes research, and epidemiology, including the epidemiology of AD and hand eczema, measurement of patient-reported outcomes in AD, and systematic reviews of AD interventions and interventions to prevent AD. CA is Co-Lead of the international Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative.

Bernd Arents is the expert patient for GADA, an advocate with the Dutch Association for People with Atopic Dermatitis in addition to being active in GlobalSkin. He has contributed to Dutch and European guidelines as a patient and methods expert and was the lead author of the inaugural Global Report on Atopic Dermatitis 2022, in addition to Patient/Associate Editor for the British Journal of Dermatology. 

Professor Ching-Chi Chi is Professor of Dermatology at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan, the General Convenor for Evidence-Based Medicine, the Editor-in-Chief of Dermatologica Sinica, the Joint Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Skin Group, an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Dermatology, and an Academic Editor for Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Professor Sandipan Dhar is Head of Paediatric Dermatology at the Kolkata Institute of Child Health in India. He established the Indian Society for Eczema Studies, which started an epidemiological study of atopic dermatitis in 42 Indian centres. He has also conducted studies on diagnostic criteria for AD in Indian patients, the role of bacterial flora in the pathogenesis and management of AD, and the epidemiology of AD in a large North Indian paediatric population.

Professor Ncoza Dlova is a Professor and former Dean of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, where she is also the Head of the Dermatology Department. Her research focuses on lichen planopilaris and diversity in skin, emphasizing how common conditions present differently. She also represents Africa as a Regional Coordinator for the Global Psoriasis Atlas. ​

Professor Jennifer Koplin is the Group Leader of Childhood Allergy and Epidemiology at the University of Queensland Child Health Research Centre and a Principal Research Fellow with the HERA 360-Kids Community Network. She has led several population-based cohort studies, including the EarlyNuts , SchoolNuts, and the MACS cohort studies. Professor Koplin currently leads the Evidence and Translation Hub of the Australian National Allergy Centre of Excellence and the Food Allergy Prevention stream of the Centre of Research Excellence in Food Allergy.

Professor Fahafahantsoa Rapelanoro Rabenja is a Consultant Dermatologist and Chair of Dermatology, Venerology, and IT in Health in Madagascar. He is a principal investigator in the PASSION Project for those with skin of color. He is also investigating filaggrin skin barrier gene inheritance in Malathat that is using AI in dermatology gasy people, involving genome sequencing. He leads a collaboration with ISAD and Sub-Saharan dermatologists to focus on management of AD in low-income settings.

Professor Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier is the Treasurer of the International Society for Atopic Dermatitis, a Professor of Allergy and Dermatology, and the Head of the Allergy Unit of the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital of Zurich. His research focuses on AD, mast-cell related diseases, and molecular allergy diagnostics. He also serves as an external consultant of the WHO for non-communicable skin disease in the tropics.

Dr. Chiedu Ufodiama is a Dermatology Specialty Registrar at St John’s Institute of Dermatology, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and an academic clinical fellow at University of Manchester / Salford Royal Hospital with honours. He has previously conducted research on atopic dermatitis in individuals of Asian and African descent. He will be conducting a project on the education of AD patients of a diverse population.

Professor Christian Vestergaard is Professor of Dermatology at Aarhus University and Chief Physician at Aarhus University Hospital. His current research is on AD biomarkers as well as examining the burden of disease in AD and understanding the patient journey for AD. He serves on the international editorial Board of the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology and is an Associate Editor of the British Journal of Dermatology. Professor Vestergaard is the Co-Chair of the GADA Steering Committee. 

Dr. Yik Weng Yew is a Senior Consultant Dermatologist and Head of the Atopic Dermatitis Service at the National Skin Centre in Singapore. He is Principal Investigator of atopic dermatitis clinical trials involving upadacitinib, lebrikizumab, and nemolizumab. In addition, he is the Clinical Lead of the skin domain in the Health for Life in Singapore study. 

Henry Lim is President of the International League of Dermatological Societies and a Faculty Member at Henry Ford Health. His research focuses on photodermatology in addition to vitiligo, psoriasis, AD, and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.  

Arpita Bhose is the Chief Executive Officer of the International League of Dermatological Societies, where she is responsible for managing and developing ILDS operations. She was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Jennifer Kilmer is the Global Skin Health Project Coordinator for the International League of Dermatological Societies. She has a background in treating diverse patient populations, fostering international collaborations, and improving health outcomes in neurology, pediatrics, critical care, and dermatology. 

Alain Taieb is President of the International Society of Atopic Dermatitis. He began his career as a paediatric dermatologist and later took over as the Head of the Department of Dermatology at Bordeaux University Hospitals. 

Laurent Elgard is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Society of Atopic Dermatitis.

Nicole Sudiacal is Member Services Manager of Global Skin and passionate about equity, patient rights, system transformation, and community engagement.

Toni Roberts is Member Services Manager of Global Skin who dedicated to advocating for patients impacted by dermatological conditions. She is committed to raising disease awareness, improving guidelines, and amplifying the voices of patients.

Vahid Djamei is the Chief Executive Officer of Swiss4ward, a software consultancy company with expertise in the medical and academic field providing web-based software solutions. Swiss4ward takes care of technical and visual needs for website development, mobile applications, and specialised software as well as the building of the GADA digital ecosystem.

Anna Darzina is a Project Manager of Swiss4ward who has contributed significantly to the development of GADA website and digital ecosystem. Her expertise played a key role in the success of piloting the GADA registry platform in LebRAD.

David Webb has designed the visuals for GADA including logos, branding assets for GADA not limited to website, conference leaflets as well as booklets. His artistic touch will continue elevate GADA’s work, helping us stand out and shine.