President's Address

Message from Dr. Paul Friedman, ASLMS President

Dear Colleagues,

Through ASLMS’s New Beginnings Radiation Mark Removal Program, board-certified ASLMS physicians can volunteer to remove radiation mark tattoos free of charge for cancer survivors. One of my main initiatives this year is to expand the New Beginnings program to include a national directory of board-certified ASLMS physicians who remove branding tattoos free of charge for sex trafficking survivors. I am reaching out to you to consider joining the New Beginnings network.

Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, with up to 300,000 people at risk of being trafficked in the US alone. Human traffickers often brand their victims with tattoos conveying ownership, including names, symbols, initials, and barcodes. At the 2022 Annual Conference, our recent study, Liberating More Than Light: Laser Removal of Branding Tattoos is Impactful in the Recovery of Sex Trafficking Survivors, presented a needs and impact survey of 40 trafficking survivor programs. Of the estimated 3,200 survivors supported by these programs, over 1,000 were at an appropriate recovery stage to undergo laser tattoo removal. On a scale of 1–10, with 10 being the most impactful on recovery, removal of branding tattoos received an average impact score of 9.2. ASLMS is the ideal professional society to establish a philanthropic national registry of physicians for survivor tattoo removal.

We are partnering with the National Trafficking Sheltered Alliance to connect survivors with tattoo removal services. To be eligible, patients must provide documentation from their case manager stating they are sex trafficking survivors at the optimal stage of recovery to undergo laser tattoo removal. The program is in its final stages of development, and further details and resources will be forthcoming.

As a board-certified physician, you are eligible to participate in one or both of these excellent volunteer programs and have your name listed in the online directories. Please send an email to information@aslms.org to indicate your interest in participating in the New Beginnings Radiation Mark Removal directory, Branding Tattoo Removal directory, or both. By volunteering your time, expertise, and resources, you can help human trafficking survivors with their recovery process. With your help, my goal of having a robust directory of physicians available when the new program is launched will be realized.

I greatly appreciate your consideration. With your generous support, we truly can help change lives with lasers.

Paul M. Friedman, MD
ASLMS President

Paul M. Friedman, MD

April 2022

Dr. Friedman's Bio

friedman-paul-m Paul M. Friedman, MD, board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology, is the director of Dermatology & Laser Surgery Center of Houston, Texas. He was educated in dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine where he served as chief resident and was twice awarded the prestigious Husik Prize for his research in dermatologic surgery. He completed a one-year fellowship in dermatologic laser surgery and Mohs micrographic surgery & cutaneous oncology at the Laser & Skin Surgery Center of New York and was the recipient of the Young Investigator's Writing Competition Award of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. Dr. Friedman is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical School, department of dermatology, and a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston Methodist Hospital. He is also on staff at Texas Children's Hospital and Memorial-Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center. Dr. Friedman is a fellowship director for the ASDS-accredited cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowship training program and also serves as faculty for the Procedural Dermatology Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Friedman has been a featured speaker of the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS), and other national and international audiences. He served as Co-Chair for the Cutaneous Laser Surgery Section of the 2009, 2011, and 2018 Annual Conferences of the ASLMS and served as program co-chair for the 2015 ASLMS Annual Conference. Dr. Friedman’s abstract received the Dr. Richard E. Fitzpatrick Best Clinical and Innovations Award at the 2015 ASLMS Conference and he was awarded the Best of Cutaneous Applications Abstract Session Award at the 2016 ASLMS Conference. He served on the ASLMS Board of Directors from 2015 to 2018 and has served as chair of the public service committee for the ASDS. Dr. Friedman was awarded the prestigious Leon Goldman Memorial Award at the 2019 ASLMS annual conference. Dr. Friedman has published over 100 medical articles and book chapters and co-authored the book Beautiful Skin Revealed: The Ultimate Guide to Better Skin. He is co-Editor of the textbook Lasers and Light Source Treatment For The Skin and serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Dermatologic Surgery. He has been featured in numerous national media outlets and is a frequent guest on Doctor Radio’s Dermatology Show. Dr. Friedman has been recognized as a leading physician and researcher in the field and has also been involved in the development of several new laser systems and therapeutic techniques now commonly used throughout the world.

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