Overview
The Dermatology Branch conducts clinical and basic investigations of skin biology and researches the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of skin disease. Biochemical and biological studies of skin are carried out in the laboratories and the clinic. Research areas include:
- Inflammatory skin diseases.
- Human microbiome in patients with eczema and with inborn errors of immunity.
- Cutaneous adverse eruptions, including from cancer immunotherapy.
- Skin stem cells.
- Cutaneous malignancies, including Merkel cell carcinoma.
Observational and interventional clinical studies are conducted in the Branch involving patients with a broad range of diseases. Some studies are led by Branch investigators while others are performed in collaboration with outside investigators.
Career Opportunities
We are actively recruiting:
- Tenure-track/tenure-eligible investigators to join the Dermatology Branch,
- Dermatology clinicians and Dermatology advanced practice providers to support our Dermatology Consult Service, and
- Trainees interested in conducting translational/basic research within Dermatology Branch laboratories.
Contact us to learn more.
Clinical Care
Dermatology Consultation Service
The Dermatology Consultation Service has long been one of the busiest clinical services in the NIH Clinical Center and is responsible for all outpatient and inpatient dermatologic care. The Service evaluates and treats patients enrolled on clinical research protocols at the NIH including patients with a variety of rare diseases with cutaneous manifestations as well as any patients who experience adverse reactions to experimental therapeutic agents or manifest unrelated skin conditions while at the NIH. The Dermatology Consultation Service is renowned for providing quality patient care and contributing to numerous clinical and translational research discoveries from the NIH Intramural Research Program.
Laboratories
Cutaneous Development and Carcinogenesis Section
Led by Isaac Brownell, M.D., Ph.D., the lab studies signaling pathways, such as Hedgehog signaling, that regulate the development and maintenance of normal skin, and the changes in these signals that occur during the formation of skin cancer.
Cutaneous Microbiome and Inflammation Section
Led by Heidi H. Kong, M.D., M.H.Sc., the lab studies the skin microbiome in healthy individuals with the goal of expanding our understanding of host-microbe interactions.
Our History
The Dermatology Branch began in 1961 within the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Center for Cancer Research. The Dermatology Branch moved to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in 2017. Over the subsequent decades, Dermatology Branch clinicians, trainees, and investigators have made many seminal scientific discoveries and have become global leaders in dermatology and dermatologic science. The NIAMS Dermatology Branch owes a great debt to Dr. Stephen I. Katz a dermatologist/immunologist who was a valued mentor to many Dermatology Branch alumni across the globe and served as the Dermatology Branch Chief (1980-2001) and NIAMS Director (1995-2018).
- Article: Research, Colleagues, and a Shift from NCI to NIAMS (NIH Catalyst)
- Commentary: Dermatology Branch: Maria Turner (NIH Catalyst)
Training
The Dermatology Branch has a long tradition as a laboratory and clinical fellowship training center. Many of our fellows have gone on to become outstanding physician/scientists and leaders in investigative dermatology in the United States and abroad.
Contact us to learn more about opportunities to join us as a laboratory fellow, clinical fellow, and Dermatology Scholar.
Staff
Former Lab Members
Principal Investigators (Investigator/Senior Investigator)
- Marvin A. Lutzner, MD
- Stephen I. Katz, MD, PhD
- Thomas J. Lawley, MD
- S. Wright Caughman, MD
- Anthony Gaspari, MD
- Douglas R. Lowy, MD, PhD
- John R. Stanley, MD
- Kim Yancey, MD, PhD
- Mark C. Udey, MD, PhD
- Jonathan C. Vogel, MD
- Kenneth Kraemer, MD, PhD
- Samuel Hwang, MD, PhD
- Andrew Blauvelt, MD, PhD
- Thomas Hornyak, MD, PhD
- Keisuke Nagao, MD, PhD
Dermatology Consult Service (Staff Clinician/Senior Clinician)
- Maria L. Turner, MD (Senior Clinician; Senior Clinician Emeritus; Head of DCS 1991-2009)
- Edward W. Cowen, MD, MHSc (Senior Clinician; Head of DCS 2009-2025)
- John J. DiGiovanna, MD
- Adela Rambi Cardones, MD
- Emily Y. Chu, MD, PhD
- Dominique Pichard, MD, MHSc
- Leslie Castelo-Soccio, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellows
Laboratory Fellows
- Adela Rambi G. Cardones, MD, MHSc
- Akiko Sekiguchi, MD, PhD
- Alexander Enk, MD
- Anke Lonsdorf, MD, PhD
- Atsushi Terunuma, MD, PhD
- Brian S. Kim, MD, MTR
- Carol McNeely, MD
- Chih-Hung Lee, MD, PhD
- Christine DeWitt, MD
- Christine Tock, MD, PhD
- Conleth A. Egan, MB, MRCPI
- Conrad Hauser, MD
- Daniel N. Sauder, MD
- David Altman, MD
- David T. Woodley, MD
- Do Young Kim, MD, PhD
- Edit Olasz, MD, PhD
- Elektra Papadopoulos, MD, MPH
- Elliot J. Androphy, MD
- Eun-So Lee, MD, PhD
- Fiona Zwald, MD
- Fujio Otsuka, MD
- Fumi Miyagawa, MD, PhD
- Gaku Tsuji, MD, PhD
- Georg Stingl, MD
- Girish Patel, MB BS, MD, FRCP(UK)
- Ha-Young Hwang, PhD
- Helmut Hintner, MD
- Hideo Asada, MD, PhD
- Hideo Yaoita, MD
- Hiroshi Mitsui, MD, PhD
- Hong Zheng, PhD
- Jan Gutermuth, MD, PhD
- Jean-Philippe Therrien, PhD
- Johann Bauer, MD
- Joi Lenczowski, MD
- Joo Young Roh, MD
- Joseph I. Lee, MD, PhD
- Kathryn Schwarzenberger, MD
- Keisuke Nagao, MD, PhD
- Kevin D. Cooper, MD, PhD
- Kristine Nogales, MD
- Kunihiko Tamaki, MD
- Li-Fang Wang, MD
- Luca Borradori, MD
- Makoto Sugaya, MD, PhD
- Manabu Ohyama, MD, PhD
- Manao Kinoshita, MD, PhD
- Maria Becker, MD
- Markham Luke, MD, PhD
- Masafumi Iijima, MD
- Masayuki Amagai, MD, PhD
- Masutaka Furue, MD, PhD
- Melanie Neutzner, PhD
- Michael Hertl, MD
- Miklos Sardy, MD, PhD
- Min-Geol Lee, MD, PhD
- Nancy Chung, MD
- Patricia S. Walker, MD, PhD
- Peggy Crawford, MD
- Renuka Pudi, PhD
- Robert A. Swerlick, MD
- Roger Hsu, MD
- Ronald Prussick, MD
- Russell P. Hall, MD, PhD
- Sarolta Kaparti, MD
- Sei-ichiro Motegi, MD, PhD
- Seon-Pil Jin, MD, PhD
- Setsuya Aiba, MD, PhD
- Shinji Shimada, MD, PhD
- Tae-Gyun Kim, MD, PhD
- Takashi Kakinuma, MD, PhD
- Tatsuyoshi Kawamura, MD, PhD
- Thilo Jakob, MD
- Thomas Darling, MD, PhD
- Thomas Luger, MD
- Todd Plott, MD
- Tomotaka Mabuchi, MD, PhD
- Toshihiro Tanaka, MD
- Werner Aberer, MD, PhD
- William Sawchuk, MD
- Wolfgang Leitner, PhD
- Yasuo Kubota, MD, PhD
- Yasushi Tomita, MD
- Yayoi Tada, MD, PhD
- Young-Hun Cho, MD, PhD
- Yuriko Yamazaki, MD, PhD
- Zelmira Lazarova, MD
Clinical Fellows
- Alexa Boer Kimball, MD, MPH
- Alison Ehrlich, MD, MHSc
- Edward W. Cowen, MD, MHSc
- Cheryl Lee Eberting, MD
- Heidi H. Kong, MD, MHSc
- Haley B. Naik, MD, MHSc
- Dominique Pichard, MD, MHSc
- Rachel Rosenstein, MD, PhD