Awareness Update: Patient Educators

Dr. David Sirois and Becky Strong presenting at NYU.

By sharing their stories with students at dental schools across the United States, the IPPF Awareness Campaign’s Patient Educators aim to increase retention of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) and mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) curriculum. Each lecture consists of a short clinical video on PV/MMP followed by a Patient Educator presentation and Q&A session, combining clinical information with the emotional appeal of a real patient’s struggle with delayed diagnosis.

Since Becky Strong gave the first IPPF Patient Educator presentation at the University of Michigan in March of 2014, she and Hannah Heinzig have presented to a combined 1,705 students, faculty, and staff at 12 schools. Steady requests for future presentations put the Awareness Campaign on track to surpass its goal of visiting at least 19 dental schools by the end of 2016.

To see Becky and Hannah in action, check out the new Patient Educator highlight video at pemphig.us/pe-highlights.