PeDRA Session at SID

Dr. Coughlin is the Director of the Section of Pediatric Dermatology and Assistant Professor of Dermatology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Her practice is general pediatric dermatology, but she specializes in treating patients with pigmented skin lesions and immunosuppressed patients. She directs the Pediatric Melanoma and Nevus Clinic, part of Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She also holds a joint clinic with pediatric neuro-oncology caring for children with skin eruptions due to cancer therapies. She is Chair of the Skin Tumors and Reactions to Cancer therapies research group and the Outcomes Committee for the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance. She is the Treasurer for the International immunosuppression and Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative. She enjoys leading an Art and Medicine class for first year medical students. 

Dr. Sprecher chairs the Division of Dermatology and serves as Deputy Director for Research and Development at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. He is Frederick Reiss Professor of Dermatology at the Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University. He received an MD degree from the Hebrew University, a PhD degree in molecular virology from the Hebrew University and an MBA degree from Tel Aviv University. He specialized in dermatology at the Rambam Medical Center, Haifa and spent a post-doctoral fellowship in Human Genetics at the Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. He served as Deputy Director for Academic Affairs at the Rappaport Institute for Research at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and founded as well as directed the Center for Translational Genetics at the same institution. He has co-authored over 300 scientific publications, has mentored over 50 students and has received numerous national and international prizes and honors. His research focuses on the genetic basis of skin diseases. His group aims at understanding the molecular genetics of both simple and complex traits, deciphering their pathogenesis and then attempting at translating this new knowledge into innovative therapeutic tools.

Dr. Paller is the Walter J. Hamlin Professor and Chair of Dermatology, Professor of Pediatrics, and Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center (SBDRC) at Northwestern. She served as Chief of Pediatric Dermatology at Northwestern’s Children’s Hospital until she became Chair of Dermatology at Northwestern in 2004. An author of more than 500 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Paller has also edited several major textbooks in dermatology, among them Hurwitz’s Clinical Pediatric Dermatology (now 6^th edition) and Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology in General Medicine. She is an NIH-funded investigator in both her laboratory-based and clinical research. She has directed the Pediatric Dermatology Clinical Trials Unit at Northwestern/ Lurie Children’s for the past 30 years and has been the lead investigator on several landmark trials in pediatric skin disease, particularly related to atopic dermatitis (AD), psoriasis, and genodermatoses. Her laboratory focuses on skin innervation in inflammatory diseases, wound healing, and topically delivered gene regulation through nanotherapy. She has defined skin and blood biomarkers for children with AD and ichthyoses towards pathogenesis-directed therapy and has developed new patient-related outcomes scales for itch and stigma in children. Dr. Paller was the inaugural President of the International Eczema Council and inaugural co-President of the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance. She has been President of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, Society for Pediatric Dermatology, and the Women’s Dermatologic Society. She is currently President of the International Society for Pediatric Dermatology. She has served on Council and the Board of Scientific Councilors for NIH/NIAMS, and on numerous boards for dermatology patient advocacy organizations. She has received several honors for her scholarship, leadership and mentorship, among them election to the American Association of Physicians and the American Dermatological Association, and awarding of the Stephen Rothman Award from the Society for Investigative Dermatology, Mentor of the Year, Rose Hirschler, and the Wilma Bergfeld, MD Visionary & Leadership awards from the Women’s Dermatological Society, the Clarence S. Livingood, MD Memorial Award from the AAD, the Founder’s Award from the Chicago Dermatological Society, the Tanioku Kihei Memorial Award from the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatologist, and the inaugural Paula Stern Outstanding Women in Science and Medicine Award from Northwestern.