Skin of Color Savvy: Highlights from 2025

Welcome to Skin of Color Savvy: The Art and Science of Treating Patients of Color!

The Skin of Color Savvy podcast, presented by Skin of Color Society (SOCS) leaders and produced by HCPLive, presents a special year-end highlights reel to close out 2025, featuring moments from every 'Savvy Conversations' episode released throughout 2025. The compilation reflects the breadth of topics, voices, and lived experiences that shaped the podcast’s inaugural year, underscoring its commitment to advancing clinically rigorous, culturally responsive dermatologic care for patients of color.

Throughout the season, expert dermatologists explored conditions that disproportionately affect patients with skin of color, including atopic dermatitis, prurigo nodularis, vitiligo, pigmentary disorders, hidradenitis suppurativa, scarring alopecia, and curly hair–specific concerns. In conversations featuring Andrew Alexis, MD, MPH, and Shawn Kwatra, MD, the discussion centered on the biologic and social drivers of itch and inflammatory skin disease, highlighting how environmental exposures and health disparities intersect with cutaneous health.

Pigmentary disorders were a recurring theme, with episodes featuring Nada Elbuluk, MD, MSc, Michelle Rodrigues, MBBS, Esther Freeman, MD, PhD, and Karolyn Wanat, MD, emphasizing the diagnostic complexity of hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, and depigmentation across diverse skin types. These conversations reinforced the importance of nuanced clinical evaluation and patient-centered decision-making, particularly when conditions such as vitiligo are incorrectly dismissed as cosmetic.

Hair and scalp disorders were another focal point of the season. Episodes with Crystal Aguh, MD, John Harris, MD, PhD, Loren Krueger, MD, Victoria Barbosa, MD, MPH, MBA, Janiene Luke, MD, Amy McMichael, MD, and Kayla Taylor, MD, addressed scarring and non-scarring alopecias, the role of hair-care practices, and the cultural significance of curly and textured hair. Panelists stressed that hair loss often requires time-intensive visits, longitudinal care, and open conversations about styling, identity, and patient expectations.

Patient perspective was powerfully incorporated during the episode featuring Tiffany Mayo, MD, Steven Daveluy, MD, and patient advocate Jasmine Ivanna Espy, who shared her lived experience with hidradenitis suppurativa. Her story highlighted the diagnostic delays, emotional burden, and quality-of-life impact of chronic inflammatory disease, reinforcing the importance of listening to patients as partners in care.

Additional episodes tackled sunscreen counseling, winter skin care, and the need for diversity in clinical trials, with insights from Rebecca Vasquez, MD, Adewole Adamson, MD, MPP, Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD, and Tasneem Mohammad, MD, alongside discussions on global dermatologic equity and the expanding role of organizations like the Skin of Color Society.

Together, the year-end reel captures the essence of Skin of Color Savvy: a platform grounded in evidence-based medicine, cultural humility, and inclusive dialogue. As the podcast looks ahead to the coming year, the highlights serve as a reminder of the progress made, and the work still needed, to improve dermatologic care for all patients.

To learn more about SOCS’s mentorship programs and initiatives, visit Skin of Color Society.

Editor’s note: This summary was edited with the help of artificial intelligence tools.