After medical training and during his dermatology residency at Cornell, Al Kopf became interested in melanoma. He went on to make a monumental impact upon the way we think about this skin cancer. He established the Malignant Melanoma Cooperative Group with NYU and four other universities. With the help of this group, he developed one of the earliest melanoma patient clinical databases which was designed to assess the effects of multiple variables on the survival of melanoma patients.

1875 – 1940

Rose Hirschler, the first woman dermatologist in the United States, the first woman to chair a department of dermatology and the only woman among the founders of the American Academy of Dermatology, was born in Butler, Indiana at a time when women could not vote and most medical societies discouraged interactions with women physicians.

1905 – 1997

Leon Goldman, the “father of laser surgery,” began experimenting with lasers in his research laboratory shortly after they were invented in 1960 and performed the first laser surgery in 1966. He was the founding president of American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) and also served as president of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) which named its Leon Goldman Medal in his honor.

December 13, 1909 – December 13, 1992

Walter Fredrick Lever was born in Erfurt, Germany, the older of a set of non-identical twins. His father, a practicing dermatologist, wanted Walter to become a urologist and preferred that his brother become a dermatologist. At the age of twelve, Walter informed his parents that he wished to become an “academic” dermatologist, the reason being that he was impressed by the physicians who could compose the articles in medical journals that his father brought home to read.

Eugene Van Scott was an innovative dermatology researcher and entrepreneur who will be remembered as a superb physician scientist. Dr. Van Scott headed dermatology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 1953-1968. In 1972 he received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medial Research Award for demonstrating the usefulness of topical mechlorethamine (nitrogen mustard) in the treatment of patients with T-cell lymphoma.

1941 – December 20, 2018

After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in history, Steve Katz completed his medical training at Tulane University. Following a dermatology residency at the University of Miami and serving in the military, he received postdoctoral training at the University of London where he earned a PhD in immunology in 1974.

1921 – 2022

A native of Houston, John Wolf graduated from Lamar High School and Rice University. At Rice, he earned a degree in History with a minor in English. His collegiate passion for journalism, debate, and creative writing would later pay dividends as a dermatologist. He studied medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) where he earned a master’s degree in anatomy and an MD degree in four years.

Dr. Bolognia is a longtime professor of Dermatology at Yale University. She received her medical degree and trained in dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine. She has served as president of the American Dermatological Association, the Women’s Dermatologic Society, and the Medical Dermatology Society. She was awarded the Gold Medal from the American Academy of Dermatology in 2019. Dr. Bolognia is an honorary member of at least 10 Dermatology organizations.

Hugh Greenway is a pioneer Mohs surgeon who helped bring the dermatology sub specialty into mainstream medicine. After graduating from the University of Georgia and receiving his MD degree from the Medical College of Georgia, he served as a medical missionary in Ghana, West Africa. After a nine-year Navy career, he completed a dermatology residency at the Naval medical center in San Diego which was followed by a Mohs Fellowship in Wisconsin under the direction of Fred Mohs.