Current Award and Grant Recipients
Below are brief biographies for American Skin Association's 2011 grantees. Among the information included is the title of the grant, the name of the sponsoring institution and the focus of the grant recipient's research.
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Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD
Abby S. & Howard P. Milstein 2010 Innovation Award for Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research
Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Topic: p53 rescue as a therapeutic strategy in melanomaHensin Tsao is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Center, the oldest multi-disciplinary melanoma unit in the country.
Dr. Tsao graduated from Brown University with a degree in biochemistry and English. In 1993, he received an MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a PhD in Biophysics/Biochemistry from Columbia University Graduate School of Arts of Sciences. He trained both in internal medicine and dermatology, including a melanoma fellowship at the Harvard-affiliated hospitals, and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Lynda Chin, MD
Abby S. & Howard P. Milstein 2009 Innovation Award for Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Topic: Rational therapeutic strategy against BRAF mutant melanomaLinda Chin is Professor of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, and Co-leader, Melanoma Disease Program, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. In addition she is the Scientific Director, Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, and Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Dr. Chin received her MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1993. She is a board-certified dermatologist and conducted her clinical and scientific training at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she served as Chief Resident of Dermatology.
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Boris C. Bastian, MD
Abby S. & Howard P. Milstein 2008 Innovation Award for Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Topic: The KIT signaling pathway as a therapeutic target in melanomaBoris Bastian is Chair, Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the James Ewing Alumni Chair of Pathology, holding joint appointments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program.
Dr. Bastian received his MD from the University of Munich, Germany in 1988. He completed his residency in Dermatology at the University of Wurtzburg, Germany and served on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Center with appointments in both dermatology and pathology.
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Andrew Johnston, PhD
Carson Family 2011-12 Research Scholar Award in Psoriasis
University of Michigan
Topic: Biologic roles of the novel pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17C in psoriasisAndrew Johnston is a Research Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Department of Dermatology. Dr. Johnston completed his PhD at the University of Warwick Medical Research Institute in Coventry, England, and received post-doctoral training on psoriasis immunology at the National University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland. He completed his post-doctoral training on keratinocyte biology at the University of Michigan, Department of Dermatology in Ann Arbor.
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Valentina Greco, PhD
2011 Research Scholar Award
Yale Medical School
Topic: Stem cell niche dynamics during hair follicle regenerationValentina Greco is an Assistant Professor at Yale University in the Genetics Department, Yale Stem Cell Center, and Yale Cancer Center. She received her BS from the University of Biological Science, Palermo, Italy in 1996, and her PhD from Heidelberg University in 2002. Dr. Greco completed her post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University.
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Susana Ortiz-Urda, MD, PhD
2011 Research Scholar Award
University of California, San Francisco
Topic: Identification of pathways involved in intraepidermal melanoma progressionSusana Ortiz-Urda is the Co-Director of the UCSF Melanoma Center. Dr. Ortiz-Urda received her MD/PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria. She completed her residency and a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University in Epithelial Biology, as well as a Dermatology Cutaneous Oncology Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, Department of Dermatology.
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Roger Lo, MD, PhD
Abby S. & Howard P. Milstein 2011 Research Scholar Award for Melanoma & Skin Cancer
University of California, Los Angeles
Topic: A rational basis to augment v600E B-RAF therapeutic targeting in melanomaDr. Lo is an Assistant Professor of Medicine/Dermatology at UCLA where he directs the Melanoma Clinic in Dermatology. He graduated from Stanford University and trained at the Cornell/Sloan-Kettering/Rockefeller Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program in Manhattan.
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Botond Z. Igyarto, PhD
Alice P. Melly 2011 Research Grant in Autoimmune & Inflammatory Skin Diseases
University of Minnesota
Topic: Langerhans cells as master modulators of skin related immune responsesBotond Igyarto is a Research Associate at the Kaplan Lab, University of Minnesota Department of Dermatology. Dr. Igyarto received his MS in Biology at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania, and his PhD at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.
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Keith A. Choate, MD, PhD
2011 Research Grant in Childhood Skin Diseases & Disfigurement
Yale University School of Medicine
Topic: Genetics and pathobiology of normophosphatemic tumural calcinosisKeith A. Choate is an Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Choate received his BS in biological sciences from Stanford University in 1995, his PhD in cell biology from Yale University in 2001, and his MD from Yale Medical School in 2004. He completed residency training in Dermatology and a post-doctoral fellowship in Genetics in 2008.
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Grace Ying Wang, PhD
Mary and Kenneth Edlow 2011 Research Grant in Melanoma/Skin Cancer
Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute
Topic: Activating p53 to inhibit murine basal cell carcinoma tumorigenesisGrace Ying Wang received her Bachelor's degree at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in Singapore and her PhD at the National University of Singapore, School of Medicine. In 2007, Dr. Wang joined Ervin Epstein's lab in California where her current work is in basal cell carcinoma.
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Delphine Lee, MD, PhD
Ann and Donald Calder 2011 Research Grant in Vitiligo & Pigment Cell Disorders
John Wayne Cancer Institute at St. John's Health Center
Topic: The role of damage-associated molecular patterns S100AS and S100A9 in the pathogenesis of vitiligoDelphine Lee is Director of Translational Immunology at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at St. John's Health Center. Previously Dr. Lee was Assistant Professor and Director, Vitiligo and Cutaneous Autoimmunity Specialty Clinic at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Division of Dermatology. Dr. Lee received her MD and PhD degrees from the University of California, San Diego. She completed her graduate thesis with Dr. Dennis A. Carson on mechanisms of DNA vaccination.
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Ruth Ann Vleugels, MD
2011 Quality of Life Study
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Topic: Willingness-to-pay preferences and health utilities in cutaneous lupus erythematosusRuth Ann Vleugels is the Director of the Connective Tissue Disease Clinic at Brigham and Women's Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School , the Co-Director of the Center for Skin and Related Musculoskeletal Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Co-Director of the Rheumatology-Dermatology Clinic at Children's Hospital Boston. Dr. Vleugels received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry and American literature from the University of Virginia, attended Vanderbilt University Schools of Medicine and completed her residency at Harvard Dermatology.
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Mitra Dowlatshahi
2011 Medical Student Grant Targeting Melanoma and Skin Cancer
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Topic: Identification of T cells specific for the Merkel Cell polyomavirus in human Merkel cell carcinomasMs. Dowlatshahi received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University where she studied Physics and Mathematics. She is currently attending Harvard Medical School in the joint HMS-MIT Health Science and Technology program and doing research at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She was born and raised in Tehran, Iran.
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David Li-Kang Chen
2011 Medical Student Grant Targeting Melanoma and Skin Cancer
Northwestern University
Topic: Transdermal delivery of siRNA nanoconjugates to suppress metastic melanomaDavid Chen is a third year medical student at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He received his Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University. He is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Yevgeniya Dvorkin
2011 Medical Student Grant Targeting Melanoma and Skin Cancer
Case Western Reserve University
Topic: Mechanisms of oncogenic transformation of normal melanocytes by ultraviolet radiation and bisphenol AMs. Dvorkin is a fourth year medical student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and religion in 2006 at Case Western. She was born in Moscow and moved to Cleveland in 1993 where she has lived ever since.
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Teresa Fu
2011 Medical Student Grant Targeting Melanoma and Skin Cancer
Stanford University
Topic: A randomized controlled trial of vitamin D plus calcium for prevention of non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers in womenTeresa Fu is currently at Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate work at Rice University. She is originally from Dallas, Texas.
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Sophia Rangwala
2011 Medical Student Grant Targeting Melanoma and Skin Cancer
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Topic: HDAC inhibitors in cutaneous T-cell lymphomas: bio markers of response and resistance and potential combination therapiesSophia Rangwala completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard College. She is currently attending Baylor College of Medicine and has devoted a year to do translational research in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. She plans to apply for a residency in dermatology this year. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona.
