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Agenda

Advancing Itch Science: Bridging Research, Clinical Care, and Industry Innovation

Preliminary Agenda

Day 1: Friday, November 6, 2026 - Industry & Innovation Summit

9:00 am

• Registration Desk Opens
• Exhibits Open
• Poster Viewing Opens

12:00 pm - 12:50 PM

Industry-Sponsored Session / Lunch

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Panel: Beyond Itch Scores: What Patients, Clinicians, and Industry Still Need to Measure

• Patient-centered outcomes

1:45 pm - 2:30 pm

Pipeline Accelerators

  • Bi and Trispecifics for Itch - Christopher Bunick, MD, PhD
  • JAKs and Itch - Diego Ruiz Dasilva, MD
  • Repurposing Drugs for Itch - Naiem Issa, MD, PhD
  • New Topical Treatments for Itch - Peter Lio, MD

2:30 pm - 3:20 pm

Industry-Sponsored Session / Coffee Break

3:20 pm - 3:50 pm

Addressing Unmet Needs in Chronic Itch: Patients, Equity, and Vulnerable Populations

  • Unmet Needs of Skin of Color Itch - Blair Jenkins, MD, PhD
  • Unmet Needs in Pediatric and Geriatric Itch: Two Extremes, Same Spectrum - Suephy Chen, MD
  • Genital Itch: The Most Unreported, Understudied and Undertreated Domain of Chronic Itch - Melissa Mauskar, MD

3:50 - 4:35 pm

Opening Ceremony & Keynote Plenary

Keynote: Neuroimmune Revolution in Itch—From Bench to Care

Xinzhong Dong, PhD
The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

4:35 pm - 4:45 pm

Closing Remarks / Adjourn

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Welcome Reception & Poster Preview Session

Join us for light refreshments and food, and visit the industry exhibits.

Day 2: Saturday, November 7, 2026 - Scientific & Clinical Itch Congress

7:00 am

Registration Desk Opens

7:45 am - 8:35 am

Industry-Sponsored Session / Breakfast

8:35 am - 8:50 am

Opening Remarks & Day Overview: The Itch Landscape in 2026: What We Know, What We've Solved, What's Still Broken

Gil Yosipovitch, MD
Director, Miami Itch Center
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

8:50 am - 9:10 am

Foundational Plenary: Central vs Peripheral Itch Circuits

Brian Kim, MD
Professor, Vice Chair of Research, Director Alan Institute
Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine

9:10 am - 10:50 am

Session I: Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Chronic Itch

Chairs:

Ethan Lerner, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Dermatology
Massachusetts General Hospital

Sarbjit Saini, MD
Professor of Medicine, Allergy & Immunology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

  • Dendritic Cells as Orchestrators of Itch: From Immune Sensing to Neural Activation - Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD
  • Supraspinal Processing of Itch Within the Parabrachial Nucleus - Tayler Sheahan, PhD
  • Neural Circuitry of Itch: Distinguishing Chronic Itch from Pain Pathways - Steve Davidson, PhD
  • Next-Generation GPCR Modulation in Itch: The Rise of Miniproteins - Edin Muratspahić, PhD

10:50 am - 11:05 am

Break

11:05 am - 12:20 pm

Session II: Translational & Biomarker Advances

Chairs:

Santosh Mishra, PhD
Associate Professor
NC State University

Leigh Nattkemper, PhD
Miami Itch Center
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

  • BNP and Periostin as Biomarkers for Chronic Itch - Santosh Mishra, PhD
  • Spatial Transcriptomics and Itch - Leigh Nattkemper, MD
  • Comparative Itch: Translational Insights from Dogs - Chie Tamamoto-Mochizuki, DVM, PhD, DipAiCVD

  • Mini Posters: Flash Talks

12:20pm - 1:10 pm

Industry-Sponsored Session / Lunch

1:10 pm - 1:55 pm

Clinical Plenary: Treating Severe itch—What Works Now & Next

Shawn Kwatra, MD
Joseph W. Burnett Endowed Professor and Chair in Dermatology
University of Maryland School of Medicine

  • Kappa Opioids and Itch - Tyler Beck MD, PhD
  • Treating Psoriatic Itch - Jason Hawkes, Md, PhD
  • Treating Itch in Blistering Diseases - Marieta Papanikolaou, MD, PhD

1:55 pm - 3:10 pm

Session III: Emerging Therapies & Unmet Needs

Chairs:

Gil Yosipovitch, MD
Director, Miami Itch Center
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Mohammad Jafferany, PhD
Chair, Association for Psychocutaneous Medicine of North America (APMNA)

  • Biologics pipeline
  • Small molecules
  • Neuromodulation & behavioral therapy

  • Mini Posters: Flash Talks

3:10 pm - 3:25 pm

Break

3:25 pm - 4:25 pm

Session IV: Diversity, Disparities & Patient Experience

  • Itch in the Eldery - Daniel Butler, MD
  • Itch in the Pediatric Allergic Population: Unmet Needs - Melissa Gan, MD
  • Bridging Skin and Nerve: Lessons from a Dermatology–Neurology Itch Clinic - Sarina Elmariah, MD, PhD
  • MNeuropathic Itch and Sensory Testing - Emily Cole, MD
  • Combined Itch Clinic with Allergy - Rachel Meltzer, MD, MPH
  • PTSD and Itch: An Unmet Need - Keira Barr, MD

4:25 pm - 5:00 pm

Awards & Closing Remarks

  • Best poster (trainee)
  • Rising itch investigator award
  • Announcement: next summit

5:00 pm

Adjourn

(Agenda subject to change)