Physician Perspectives
Last month I traveled to Austin, Texas for the 58th Annual Meeting of the American College of Mohs Surgery. I wrote earlier this spring about why I keep coming back to this meeting year after year. Now that it's behind me, I wanted to share a few highlights, and a couple of photos, from a week that turned out to be one of the most rewarding I've had at this conference.
One of the things I was most excited to present this year was an ePoster on a pilot study I've been working on: Mohs Note Automation: A Pilot Study Using a Large Language Model Agent. In plain terms, I've been studying whether a carefully designed AI agent can help draft the detailed operative notes we write after Mohs surgery, accurately, safely, and with the surgeon always reviewing and signing off on the final result.
Documentation is one of the quieter realities of modern medicine. Every procedure generates a thorough written record, and the time spent writing those notes is time not spent face-to-face with patients. My interest is in whether thoughtful technology can take some of that administrative burden off the surgeon's plate, freeing up attention for what actually matters, which is your care. It was a privilege to share this early work with colleagues from across the country and to hear their questions and ideas.
I also had the honor of moderating a session on reconstructive surgery, the part of Mohs surgery that focuses on repairing the skin and restoring appearance and function after a skin cancer has been removed. Reconstruction is, in many ways, where the art of our specialty lives. Guiding a discussion among some of the most skilled surgeons in the country, working through real cases and the question of "how would you reconstruct it?", is exactly the kind of exchange that sharpens everyone in the room.
The Texas Hill Country around Austin is beautiful, and I couldn't pass up the chance to explore the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. The park spans two sites, and I visited both: the LBJ Ranch, sometimes called the "Texas White House," and President Johnson's boyhood home in nearby Johnson City. As someone who thinks a lot about how medicine and healthcare policy intersect, standing in the places where so much of that history unfolded was genuinely moving.
It was President Lyndon B. Johnson who signed Medicare into law in 1965 as part of his Great Society program, the same Medicare that millions of Americans, including many of my own patients, rely on for their skin cancer care today. Visiting the ranch where he lived and worked was a fitting reminder of how deeply policy and patient care are connected.
Every year I return from this meeting with new techniques, fresh ideas, and renewed enthusiasm for the work we do. This year was no different. Whether it's a refinement in how we reconstruct after Mohs surgery, a more efficient approach to the behind-the-scenes work of running a practice, or simply the energy that comes from being among colleagues who care as much as you do, the benefits find their way back to Rochester and into the care I provide at Dermatology Partners.
Thank you to the American College of Mohs Surgery, to everyone who stopped by my poster or joined the reconstruction session, and to the city of Austin for a memorable week. I'm already looking forward to next year.
Dr. Kevin Christensen
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