About LIDS

Our History

Over seventy years of fellowship, scholarship, and patient-centered dermatology on Long Island.

Origins in the 1940s

The Long Island Dermatological Society began informally in the 1940s, when dermatologists volunteering at the Queens General Hospital clinic — together with Dr. Conrad Stritzler's home-office discussion group — began meeting to share cases and ideas. By the end of that decade, officers had been elected and the society's name was adopted.

Founding members

Among the early members who shaped the society were:

  • Dr. Ida Mintzer — first President
  • Dr. Conrad Stritzler
  • Dr. Charles Miller
  • Dr. Irving Fishman
  • Dr. Stanley Altshuler
  • Dr. Adrian Neumann — Secretary-Treasurer for over a decade
  • Dr. Louis Hutner
  • Dr. Max Boxer
  • Dr. Zoltan Rubin
  • Dr. Steven Laurnes
  • Dr. Alex Fisher

Expansion and incorporation

Under successive leadership — Drs. Royal Montgomery, Zoltan Rubin, Marvin Dannenberg, Lewis Shapiro, Eugene Bodian, Ralph Grover, Fred Mebel, and Richard Clark — the society grew through dinner meetings at the Meadowbrook Motel in Jericho, the John Peel Room in Westbury, and Westbury Manor. Clinical meetings were held at Long Island Jewish Hospital, North Shore Hospital, Meadowbrook Hospital (now Nassau University Medical Center), and Stony Brook beginning in 1991.

New By-Laws were approved around 1975, and the society was formally incorporated in Huntington, NY in 1987.

Accreditation and affiliation

In 1984 the American Academy of Dermatology granted LIDS the right to award CME credits via SUNY Stony Brook, and that same year LIDS joined the Atlantic Dermatologic Conference. Today LIDS holds four CME-accredited dinner meetings each year at Westbury Manor, serving a regional network of dermatologists, dermatologic surgeons, and dermatopathologists across Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens.

"…the promotion of better understanding of dermatology among its members, the community, and the general public."
— LIDS By-Laws

Past Presidents

Presidents of the Long Island Dermatological Society, 1970–present
TermPresident
1970–1971Royal Montgomery, MD
1971–1972Zoltan Rubin, MD
1972–1974Marvin Dannenberg, MD
1974–1976Lewis Shapiro, MD
1976–1978Ralph Grover, MD
1978–1980Eugene Bodian, MD
1980–1982Charles Baraf, MD
1982–1984John Ruppe, MD
1984–1986Frank DeMento, MD
1986–1988Erwin Zimmerman, MD
1988–1990Lawrence Pacernick, MD
1990–1992Roy Stephens, MD
1992–1994Martin H. Brownstein, MD
1994–1996James Krivo, MD
1996–1998Robert Feinstein, MD
1998–2000Lynn Silverstein, MD
2000–2002Gavan D. Moynihan, MD
2002–2004Neil S. Sadick, MD
2004–2006Michael J. Dannenberg, MD
2006–2008Deborah S. Sarnoff, MD
2008–2010Richard A. Clark, MD
2010–2012Peter L. Reisfeld, MD
2012–2014Robert A. Skrokov, MD
2014–2016Peter E. O’Neill, MD
2016–2018Marcia G. Tonnesen, MD
2018–2020Pamela J. Basuk, MD
2020–2022Leonard Kristal, MD
2022–2024Sheryl Feingold, MD
2024–2026Suzanne Sirota Rozenberg, DO — current
2026–2028Sari Weinstein, MD — incoming

Historical synopsis by James M. Krivo, MD, Franklin Square, New York — based on conversations with Drs. Vincent Cipollaro, Irving Fishman, Marvin Dannenberg, Ralph Grover, Louis Shapiro, and Ronald Stritzler.