Reaching Patients Online and Avoiding Burnout, With Steven Daveluy, MD

Social media is becoming a tool upon which many dermatology clinicians are beginning to focus, as combatting misinformation is increasingly a topic of conversation.

At LEADderm 2026, Steven Daveluy, MD, associate professor and dermatology residency program director at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, spoke about this in his session ‘From Content to Credibility: Social Media for the Modern Dermatologist,’ noting dermatologists need to be putting out reliable information online because patients are already going there for it.¹ He described research suggesting content shared by influencers is often invalid and can mislead people, which makes accurate posts from clinicians more important.

Daveluy said social media is trending away from polished, filtered content toward quick, unedited posts recorded straight from a phone, which read as more authentic and less like something generated by AI. He said the most common barrier he hears about is time, and he recommends breaking posts into small pieces, answering one patient question at a time and building a backlog to post gradually.

"I think one of the big takeaways for me, and I lived this experience too with starting in social media, is just do it,” Daveluy said. “Don't be afraid that it needs to look perfect, it needs to sound perfect. Focus on your content, answer the questions that your patients ask you, and just post.

Daveluy said he does not push every dermatologist to join social media, calling it a to-each-their-own decision. He said clinicians who are not interested can still stay aware of what is trending online so they are ready to talk with patients about it, and can always make an occasional post if a particular question keeps coming up in visits.

Daveluy also discussed his talk, ‘Say Yes to Cultivating Joy in Practice,’ which frames burnout and moral injury as connected to worse patient outcomes, not just physician wellbeing.2 He recommends an energy audit: noting which parts of the day create energy, which are neutral, and which drain it, then delegating or automating the draining tasks with staff or technology.

Daveluy said he is glad LEADderm carves out room for a topic like this alongside the science, since communication, passion, and leadership shape a dermatologist's day as much as diagnosis and treatment.

Asked what excites him most looking ahead, Daveluy pointed to hidradenitis suppurativa (HS): povorcitinib is nearing approval as the first Janus-kinase (JAK) inhibitor for the disease, topical ruxolitinib is advancing for milder cases, and the injectable biologic sonelokimab is moving toward an FDA filing. He said HS still has no one-size-fits-all treatment, so more mechanisms of action, and eventually combination therapy, are exactly what the field needs.

Editor's Note: This transcript has been edited for grammar and clarity using artificial intelligence tools. Daveluy had no relevant disclosures of note.

References

1. Daveluy S, Portela D, Nozile W. From Content to Credibility: Social Media for the Modern Dermatologist. Session presented at LEADderm. Aug 29-30, 2026.

2. Daveluy S. Say Yes to Cultivating Joy in Practice. Session presented at LEADderm. Aug 29-30, 2026.