In dermatology, we are fortunate to have many insightful practitioners and great teachers and mentors. Some are bright stars in our special universe – others unsung heroes. All of these colleagues have much to share, from wisdom to humor to insights into dermatology and life. This column allows us to gain insight from these practitioners and learn more about them.
Dr. Falabella was born in Cali, Colombia, to Italian parents and graduated as a medical doctor from Universidad del Valle in his hometown. He was then accepted as a resident in the dermatology department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, and finished his training under a program with Robert G. Carney, MD, chairman in 1966.
After graduating, he traveled back to his hometown where he was appointed by Universidad and Hospital Universitario del Valle, and he founded the training program in dermatology in 1971. He spent the following 30 years as professor and chairman of dermatology and educated 80 dermatologists with a staff of 18 other specialists. Most of his time was dedicated to teaching general dermatology, but he also spent time in developing surgical repigmentation techniques for stable vitiligo and publishing more than 50 papers and chapters on this subject. He has also published on the melanocyte reservoir of the skin and therapy of vitiligo.
During his professional career, he lectured at national, international and world congresses of dermatology. He was elected twice as president of the Colombian Association of Dermatology and president of the 16th Iberian Latin-American Congress of Dermatology held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2005.
After retiring from university activities in 2000, he promoted and founded the Centro Dermatologico de Cali in 2010, a successful private institution with a group of 24 dermatologists and 20 more specialists with other related disciplines.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. As I was involved with academic dermatology, I am most pleased with new scientific findings that have relevance with pathogenesis and also with therapy. In addition, I am particularly interested in any progress related to vitiligo, one of the dermatoses that attracted my attention very early in my career as a dermatologist. Taking care of patients and solving their dermatologic problems in my practice gives me the greatest satisfaction.
Q. Are an understanding and appreciation of the humanities important in dermatology and why?
A. Although the humanities are usually taught during elementary and high school education, they are very important for students during college and postgraduate studies because they provide a wider scope in relation to their future interaction with society. In addition to the performing arts, literature, history, philosophy and so on, I consider that the future dermatologist should learn 1 or 2 additional languages which will be an extraordinary help for their profession and also for their development as a human being. As Hippocrates quoted, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”
Q. What is your greatest regret?
A. I do not have any regret either in my professional career or in my family life with my wife Ines, a wonderful woman and mother of 3 children, Aurelio and Anna (also dermatologists) and Maria, (an industrial engineer). However, I would have loved to become a molecular biology PhD as a complement to my academic interests of steering me toward dermatology.
Q.Who was your hero/mentor and why?
A. Dr. Richard M. Caplan, one of my professors at the University of Iowa, was my mentor. He was far ahead of our times during the 1960s. During rounds or having discussions about patients, he used various dermatological problems to stimulate our thinking about etiology, pathogenesis and treatment: “Suppose that we have a leg ulcer and we have a jar with a paste-like material composed of epidermal cells that could be spread onto the ulcer…do you think that these cells would be able to colonize and form a new epidermis to heal the ulcer?” Years later in-vitro cultured epidermis and epidermal suspensions were developed and ulcers could be healed faster and safely, and permanent vitiligo repigmentation could be induced by these methods.
Q. Which patient had the most effect on your work and why?
A. Many patients with vitiligo have had an effect on me. When taking care of children or adults with vitiligo, a difficult disease to comprehend and also with remarkable difficulties for treatment, I thought that it was important to define if melanocyte transplantation could have a role in vitiligo therapy. After many trials, I was able to describe mini-grafting, suction epidermal grafting and initiate in-vitro cultured epidermis with melanocytes to be used as new melanocyte sources for repigmenting stable vitiligo with remarkable success. These methods are widely used worldwide at present and stimulated several useful modifications adding new knowledge for treating many patients with stable vitiligo, a difficult condition that frequently displays refractory depigmentation. n
Online Extra
Visit The Dermatologist website at: www.the-dermatologist.com to read more Perspectives columns.
Dr. Barankin is a dermatologist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is author-editor of 6 books in dermatology and is widely published in the dermatology and humanities literature.
In dermatology, we are fortunate to have many insightful practitioners and great teachers and mentors. Some are bright stars in our special universe – others unsung heroes. All of these colleagues have much to share, from wisdom to humor to insights into dermatology and life. This column allows us to gain insight from these practitioners and learn more about them.
Dr. Falabella was born in Cali, Colombia, to Italian parents and graduated as a medical doctor from Universidad del Valle in his hometown. He was then accepted as a resident in the dermatology department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, and finished his training under a program with Robert G. Carney, MD, chairman in 1966.
After graduating, he traveled back to his hometown where he was appointed by Universidad and Hospital Universitario del Valle, and he founded the training program in dermatology in 1971. He spent the following 30 years as professor and chairman of dermatology and educated 80 dermatologists with a staff of 18 other specialists. Most of his time was dedicated to teaching general dermatology, but he also spent time in developing surgical repigmentation techniques for stable vitiligo and publishing more than 50 papers and chapters on this subject. He has also published on the melanocyte reservoir of the skin and therapy of vitiligo.
During his professional career, he lectured at national, international and world congresses of dermatology. He was elected twice as president of the Colombian Association of Dermatology and president of the 16th Iberian Latin-American Congress of Dermatology held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2005.
After retiring from university activities in 2000, he promoted and founded the Centro Dermatologico de Cali in 2010, a successful private institution with a group of 24 dermatologists and 20 more specialists with other related disciplines.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. As I was involved with academic dermatology, I am most pleased with new scientific findings that have relevance with pathogenesis and also with therapy. In addition, I am particularly interested in any progress related to vitiligo, one of the dermatoses that attracted my attention very early in my career as a dermatologist. Taking care of patients and solving their dermatologic problems in my practice gives me the greatest satisfaction.
Q. Are an understanding and appreciation of the humanities important in dermatology and why?
A. Although the humanities are usually taught during elementary and high school education, they are very important for students during college and postgraduate studies because they provide a wider scope in relation to their future interaction with society. In addition to the performing arts, literature, history, philosophy and so on, I consider that the future dermatologist should learn 1 or 2 additional languages which will be an extraordinary help for their profession and also for their development as a human being. As Hippocrates quoted, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”
Q. What is your greatest regret?
A. I do not have any regret either in my professional career or in my family life with my wife Ines, a wonderful woman and mother of 3 children, Aurelio and Anna (also dermatologists) and Maria, (an industrial engineer). However, I would have loved to become a molecular biology PhD as a complement to my academic interests of steering me toward dermatology.
Q.Who was your hero/mentor and why?
A. Dr. Richard M. Caplan, one of my professors at the University of Iowa, was my mentor. He was far ahead of our times during the 1960s. During rounds or having discussions about patients, he used various dermatological problems to stimulate our thinking about etiology, pathogenesis and treatment: “Suppose that we have a leg ulcer and we have a jar with a paste-like material composed of epidermal cells that could be spread onto the ulcer…do you think that these cells would be able to colonize and form a new epidermis to heal the ulcer?” Years later in-vitro cultured epidermis and epidermal suspensions were developed and ulcers could be healed faster and safely, and permanent vitiligo repigmentation could be induced by these methods.
Q. Which patient had the most effect on your work and why?
A. Many patients with vitiligo have had an effect on me. When taking care of children or adults with vitiligo, a difficult disease to comprehend and also with remarkable difficulties for treatment, I thought that it was important to define if melanocyte transplantation could have a role in vitiligo therapy. After many trials, I was able to describe mini-grafting, suction epidermal grafting and initiate in-vitro cultured epidermis with melanocytes to be used as new melanocyte sources for repigmenting stable vitiligo with remarkable success. These methods are widely used worldwide at present and stimulated several useful modifications adding new knowledge for treating many patients with stable vitiligo, a difficult condition that frequently displays refractory depigmentation. n
Online Extra
Visit The Dermatologist website at: www.the-dermatologist.com to read more Perspectives columns.
Dr. Barankin is a dermatologist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is author-editor of 6 books in dermatology and is widely published in the dermatology and humanities literature.
In dermatology, we are fortunate to have many insightful practitioners and great teachers and mentors. Some are bright stars in our special universe – others unsung heroes. All of these colleagues have much to share, from wisdom to humor to insights into dermatology and life. This column allows us to gain insight from these practitioners and learn more about them.
Dr. Falabella was born in Cali, Colombia, to Italian parents and graduated as a medical doctor from Universidad del Valle in his hometown. He was then accepted as a resident in the dermatology department at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA, and finished his training under a program with Robert G. Carney, MD, chairman in 1966.
After graduating, he traveled back to his hometown where he was appointed by Universidad and Hospital Universitario del Valle, and he founded the training program in dermatology in 1971. He spent the following 30 years as professor and chairman of dermatology and educated 80 dermatologists with a staff of 18 other specialists. Most of his time was dedicated to teaching general dermatology, but he also spent time in developing surgical repigmentation techniques for stable vitiligo and publishing more than 50 papers and chapters on this subject. He has also published on the melanocyte reservoir of the skin and therapy of vitiligo.
During his professional career, he lectured at national, international and world congresses of dermatology. He was elected twice as president of the Colombian Association of Dermatology and president of the 16th Iberian Latin-American Congress of Dermatology held in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2005.
After retiring from university activities in 2000, he promoted and founded the Centro Dermatologico de Cali in 2010, a successful private institution with a group of 24 dermatologists and 20 more specialists with other related disciplines.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. As I was involved with academic dermatology, I am most pleased with new scientific findings that have relevance with pathogenesis and also with therapy. In addition, I am particularly interested in any progress related to vitiligo, one of the dermatoses that attracted my attention very early in my career as a dermatologist. Taking care of patients and solving their dermatologic problems in my practice gives me the greatest satisfaction.
Q. Are an understanding and appreciation of the humanities important in dermatology and why?
A. Although the humanities are usually taught during elementary and high school education, they are very important for students during college and postgraduate studies because they provide a wider scope in relation to their future interaction with society. In addition to the performing arts, literature, history, philosophy and so on, I consider that the future dermatologist should learn 1 or 2 additional languages which will be an extraordinary help for their profession and also for their development as a human being. As Hippocrates quoted, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”
Q. What is your greatest regret?
A. I do not have any regret either in my professional career or in my family life with my wife Ines, a wonderful woman and mother of 3 children, Aurelio and Anna (also dermatologists) and Maria, (an industrial engineer). However, I would have loved to become a molecular biology PhD as a complement to my academic interests of steering me toward dermatology.
Q.Who was your hero/mentor and why?
A. Dr. Richard M. Caplan, one of my professors at the University of Iowa, was my mentor. He was far ahead of our times during the 1960s. During rounds or having discussions about patients, he used various dermatological problems to stimulate our thinking about etiology, pathogenesis and treatment: “Suppose that we have a leg ulcer and we have a jar with a paste-like material composed of epidermal cells that could be spread onto the ulcer…do you think that these cells would be able to colonize and form a new epidermis to heal the ulcer?” Years later in-vitro cultured epidermis and epidermal suspensions were developed and ulcers could be healed faster and safely, and permanent vitiligo repigmentation could be induced by these methods.
Q. Which patient had the most effect on your work and why?
A. Many patients with vitiligo have had an effect on me. When taking care of children or adults with vitiligo, a difficult disease to comprehend and also with remarkable difficulties for treatment, I thought that it was important to define if melanocyte transplantation could have a role in vitiligo therapy. After many trials, I was able to describe mini-grafting, suction epidermal grafting and initiate in-vitro cultured epidermis with melanocytes to be used as new melanocyte sources for repigmenting stable vitiligo with remarkable success. These methods are widely used worldwide at present and stimulated several useful modifications adding new knowledge for treating many patients with stable vitiligo, a difficult condition that frequently displays refractory depigmentation. n
Online Extra
Visit The Dermatologist website at: www.the-dermatologist.com to read more Perspectives columns.
Dr. Barankin is a dermatologist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is author-editor of 6 books in dermatology and is widely published in the dermatology and humanities literature.
