D r. Kligman is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is responsible for unlocking many of the mysteries of skin physiology and aging, including the development of retin A. He is the recipient of numerous professional awards and citations, and is an eminent scholar and articulate spokesperson for the scientific process. His research areas of interest include: acne, rosacea, photoaging, contact sensitization, and cutaneous toxicology. He is currently developing non-invasive bioengineering techniques to study the pathogenesis and treatment of these disorders. Dr. Kligman has authored more than 1,000 medical papers and numerous books. Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure? A. I can’t separate research from teaching; they are intertwined. I get immense pleasure from both. Q. Do you recall a memorable patient encounter and what you learned from it? A. In 1965, a patient was killing himself with high oral doses of vitamin A (not Accutane), 1 million units per day, which he was using to keep his severe acne conglobata under control. However, it also caused him to suffer from all of the serious side effects associated with hypervitaminosis A. This patient’s experience taught me that skin disease could be psychologically and socially devastating — capable of utterly ruining the quality of someone’s life. We now know that many of our patients with psoriasis would willingly make a Faustian choice and would rather have type 1 diabetes and hypertension, if the bargain would relieve them of psoriasis. If you want to know how horrible psoriasis is from a patient’s perspective, I urge you to read John Updike’s brilliant account of its miseries in his essay “At War with My Skin”, which is published in his book Self-Consciousness [1989, Knopf]. Q. What is the best piece of advice you have received and from whom? A. I have, at age 90, become something of an icon, making it my life’s work to resist all advice, no matter how well-meaning! In 1950, when dermatology was at its nadir and the butt of a raft of disparaging jokes from other medical specialties, nearly all of the advice I received as a resident regarding my career trajectory was absurd and feckless. Thankfully, I did not heed this advice. Q. How do you envision the future of dermatology? A. Owing to vast advances in our knowledge of skin, I can’t think of a more fascinating, enjoyable, adventurous, thoroughly satisfying choice of a career, whether in practice or in research. Our future isn’t just bright, it’s luminous, radiating its beneficent effects into all branches of medicine. Skin is in!
Spotlight on Albert Kligman, M.D., Ph.D.
D r. Kligman is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is responsible for unlocking many of the mysteries of skin physiology and aging, including the development of retin A. He is the recipient of numerous professional awards and citations, and is an eminent scholar and articulate spokesperson for the scientific process. His research areas of interest include: acne, rosacea, photoaging, contact sensitization, and cutaneous toxicology. He is currently developing non-invasive bioengineering techniques to study the pathogenesis and treatment of these disorders. Dr. Kligman has authored more than 1,000 medical papers and numerous books. Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure? A. I can’t separate research from teaching; they are intertwined. I get immense pleasure from both. Q. Do you recall a memorable patient encounter and what you learned from it? A. In 1965, a patient was killing himself with high oral doses of vitamin A (not Accutane), 1 million units per day, which he was using to keep his severe acne conglobata under control. However, it also caused him to suffer from all of the serious side effects associated with hypervitaminosis A. This patient’s experience taught me that skin disease could be psychologically and socially devastating — capable of utterly ruining the quality of someone’s life. We now know that many of our patients with psoriasis would willingly make a Faustian choice and would rather have type 1 diabetes and hypertension, if the bargain would relieve them of psoriasis. If you want to know how horrible psoriasis is from a patient’s perspective, I urge you to read John Updike’s brilliant account of its miseries in his essay “At War with My Skin”, which is published in his book Self-Consciousness [1989, Knopf]. Q. What is the best piece of advice you have received and from whom? A. I have, at age 90, become something of an icon, making it my life’s work to resist all advice, no matter how well-meaning! In 1950, when dermatology was at its nadir and the butt of a raft of disparaging jokes from other medical specialties, nearly all of the advice I received as a resident regarding my career trajectory was absurd and feckless. Thankfully, I did not heed this advice. Q. How do you envision the future of dermatology? A. Owing to vast advances in our knowledge of skin, I can’t think of a more fascinating, enjoyable, adventurous, thoroughly satisfying choice of a career, whether in practice or in research. Our future isn’t just bright, it’s luminous, radiating its beneficent effects into all branches of medicine. Skin is in!
D r. Kligman is Professor Emeritus of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is responsible for unlocking many of the mysteries of skin physiology and aging, including the development of retin A. He is the recipient of numerous professional awards and citations, and is an eminent scholar and articulate spokesperson for the scientific process. His research areas of interest include: acne, rosacea, photoaging, contact sensitization, and cutaneous toxicology. He is currently developing non-invasive bioengineering techniques to study the pathogenesis and treatment of these disorders. Dr. Kligman has authored more than 1,000 medical papers and numerous books. Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure? A. I can’t separate research from teaching; they are intertwined. I get immense pleasure from both. Q. Do you recall a memorable patient encounter and what you learned from it? A. In 1965, a patient was killing himself with high oral doses of vitamin A (not Accutane), 1 million units per day, which he was using to keep his severe acne conglobata under control. However, it also caused him to suffer from all of the serious side effects associated with hypervitaminosis A. This patient’s experience taught me that skin disease could be psychologically and socially devastating — capable of utterly ruining the quality of someone’s life. We now know that many of our patients with psoriasis would willingly make a Faustian choice and would rather have type 1 diabetes and hypertension, if the bargain would relieve them of psoriasis. If you want to know how horrible psoriasis is from a patient’s perspective, I urge you to read John Updike’s brilliant account of its miseries in his essay “At War with My Skin”, which is published in his book Self-Consciousness [1989, Knopf]. Q. What is the best piece of advice you have received and from whom? A. I have, at age 90, become something of an icon, making it my life’s work to resist all advice, no matter how well-meaning! In 1950, when dermatology was at its nadir and the butt of a raft of disparaging jokes from other medical specialties, nearly all of the advice I received as a resident regarding my career trajectory was absurd and feckless. Thankfully, I did not heed this advice. Q. How do you envision the future of dermatology? A. Owing to vast advances in our knowledge of skin, I can’t think of a more fascinating, enjoyable, adventurous, thoroughly satisfying choice of a career, whether in practice or in research. Our future isn’t just bright, it’s luminous, radiating its beneficent effects into all branches of medicine. Skin is in!
