Orlando Business Journal Writes Exclusive: Advanced Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery lines up more growth this year

Ryan Lynch
Staff Writer
Orlando Business Journal

Photo Credit: Jim Carchidi/OBJ

Advanced Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery is keeping up its expansion push after a strong 2021.

The Maitland-based practice has 155 clinics after adding 16 last year, nine of which were in Florida. Advanced Dermatology has more than 550 employees in Central Florida, its core market, and expects to add space for more growth, CEO Brian Griffin told Orlando Business Journal.

Advanced Dermatology is targeting expansion in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., along with South Carolina. Locally, it just opened its fourth location in The Villages, where it now has 52 employees.

The company also is moving some of its existing clinics to larger locations, some with 40% to 50% more space on average. It just completed one of those relocations in north Florida's Julington Creek in January, with moves in Altamonte Springs, Port St. Lucie and Ponte Vedra Beach to be completed by the end of the year.

Here, Griffin speaks more about the company's expansion effort, challenges and what's next:

What role will metro Orlando play in projected growth? We are growing nationally, but we grew up in the Orlando area and continue to focus on growing here in a few ways. We continue to look at potential acquisitions for growth in the area, but we also develop de novos in the areas. Our relationship in The Villages is a strong partnership we have with The Villages Health. That’s where we recently started establishing de novos. We recently stood up our fourth location there, our colony location.

How did the expansions of specialties grow jobs for the practice? A significant area of focus I introduced last year was on growing our aesthetic business. We expanded the level of services we provide in aesthetics, specifically in Central Florida, expanding our investment in lasers and other technologies. We’ve added over 100 people across our footprint during the last year.

What is the biggest challenge for the practice? Growing into new regions we have not been before, which I view as an opportunity. What’s cool about that is, in the last quarter of last year, we acquired a number of practices in South Carolina. We have been successful in establishing a hub practice and building around it, much like we have done in The Villages, where you start with one location and look at the expansion after. We’re looking at that across the country, where we are picking key geographies that are somewhat proximate to an existing footprint, making initial investment and then growing in that area. The most recent area is our new Fort Mill, South Carolina, location, and that surrounding area. That is a challenge in the fact you are breaking into new markets, but we’ve proven we’ve been able to do that and grow once we establish a foothold.

What factors play into acquisitions? In terms of new-name clinics and acquisitions, there’s a couple we are targeting now in key locations where we have locations and are looking to expand our access. During the course of the year, our business development team is in discussions all the time, and if we see a solid opportunity that complements our existing footprint, we will go after it.

Where may be some of the other areas where you grow jobs across your network in 2022? One is growth in Mohs services. We are hiring quite a few Mohs surgeons, both in Florida and beyond, to expand the level of services and patient access so you don't have some patients traveling hours to get to a Mohs surgeon. We’re trying to expand that access in all our markets. Another key area is research. We've expanded our focus on research in our clinics, but we also have support staff that works with our clinical organization around the data, which we will be hiring more of in the future, as well.

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