Samia Esmat, MD
Cairo University
Professor and Chairman of the Dermatology Department at the Faculty of Medicine
Samia Esmat , is Professor and Chairman of the Dermatology Department at the Faculty of Medicine Cairo University. She studied and received her MBBch Master and the MD Dermatology degrees at Cairo University . Her main fields of interest has been Vitiligo and Lasers in dermatology. She studied with her group the acral Vitiligo skin and showed how it differed from non-acral skin in many factors not solely the absence of the pilosebaceous units. They also tried to improve medical and surgical outcomes of treatment of acral vitiligo. She is an author of about 60 publications in peer reviewed journals in the fields of laser and Vitiligo. Her latest researches were concerned about the value of time in the management of vitiligo and how intensive early intervention can prevent the early development and accumulation of the melanocyte specific resident memory T cells, targeting the hope of the possible complete cure of the disease. She is the general Secertary of the Egyptian Vitiligo Society and the Vice President of the Egyptian Academy of Laser and Energy based devices. She has chaired the VWG phototherapy commitee since 2015 and has been nominated as an international member of the GVF board of directors and a cochair of the scientific commitee for the VIS and GVF meetings. She is an active member of the European Vitiligo Task Force and the Vitiligo Global Issue Consensus Conference as well as different local and international groups of Dermatology.
Mauro Picardo, MD
San Gallicano Dermatological Institute
Director of the Clinical and Experimental Department and of Cutaneous Physiopathology and Metabolomic Center
Mauro Picardo, is Director of the Clinical and Experimental Department and of Cutaneous Physiopathology and Metabolomic Center at the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute in Rome. He received his degree at the Rome University “La Sapienza”. The main topics of interest are skin biochemistry, free radicals mediated damage of the skin, sebogenesis, mechanism of control of skin pigmentation, pigmentary disorders and in particular vitiligo. He coordinates lipidomic studies on several inflammatory (acne and related disorders) and non inflammatory skin diseases in skin and blood samples. His group studied the physiopathology of pigmentary disorders and particularly of vitiligo and melasma proposing a free radical mediated mechanism of damage and suggesting an alteration of the cell cross talk in the pathogenesis. Studies on skin lipids leads to clarify mechanisms of control of sebogenesis and to identify possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of acne. His group has defined several collaborations with national and international research groups. Together with prof Alain Taieb is the co-coordinator of the European Vitiligo Task Force, the Vitiligo Global Issue Consensus Conference and participates to different groups of dermatology and venereology. He is the co Editor of the textbook Vitiligo (1° and 2° edition). He served on several Boards of National and International Scientific Societies ( Past president of ESDR, ESPCR IFPCS) and Editorial Boards of indexed scientific journals and member of the Italian National Health Council. Author of more than 300 publications in peer reviewed journals and of more than 30 chapters in multi authors books.
I. Caroline Le Poole PhD
Northwestern University
Professor of Dermatology, Microbiology and Immunology Northwestern University Co-Director, Cancer Center Immunotherapy Assessment Core Co-Director, SBDRC Immune testing (TEST IT) Core
In ’93, Caroline defended her PhD thesis entitled ‘aspects of melanocytes in relation to vitiligo’ at Amsterdam University in the Netherlands. Studies revealing antigen presentation by melanocytes and an enhanced presence of T cells in vitiligo skin helped lay the groundwork for labeling vitiligo as an autoimmune disease of the skin. After a short stint to study melanocyte adhesion and melanosome transfer, Dr Le Poole moved to Cincinnati in ’95 to study differential gene expression in vitiligo-derived melanocytes. With help from the Dermatology Foundation, Caroline later returned to the topic of T cell involvement in vitiligo, which held direct relevance to anti-tumor responses in melanoma. This helped her land a faculty position at Loyola in Chicago to further study the interface of autoimmunity and anti-tumor immunity to melanoma-associated antigens, which remains a focal point of professor Le Poole’s research lab at Northwestern University today.
Ahmed Mourad, MBBS, MS
Cairo University Faculty of Medicine, Kasr Al Ainy hospital
Dermatology Fellow, Teaching Assistant
Assistant lecturer at Cairo University Kasralainy Faculty of Medicine. Completed doctoral dissertation on PD-1/PD-L1 expression in vitiligo. Member of Cairo University Vitiligo Unit and the Egyptian Vitiligo Group. Publications: *Published: • Elantably, D., Mourad, A., Elantably, A., & Effat, M. (2019). Warfarin induced leukocytoclastic vasculitis: an extraordinary side effect. Journal of thrombosis and thrombolysis, 1-4. • Youssef, R., Hafez, V., Elkholy, Y., & Mourad, A. (2019). Glycerol 85% efficacy on atopic skin and its microbiome: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Clinical and Bacteriological Evaluation. Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 1-26. *In peer review: • Genitogluteal porokeratosis – a case report of two brothers and literature review • Widespread necrotizing purpura and scrotal Fournier gangrene like lesion (Lucio's phenomenon) as the first diagnostic presentation of an Egyptian patient with diffuse non-nodular lepromatous leprosy • PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in active vitiligo – a case control study
Marcella Willemsen, MSc
Amsterdam University Medical Centers
PhD Scholar
Marcella Willemsen is PhD student at the Department of Dermatology and Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. During her PhD, she focused on the balance between autoimmunity and immune escape in human vitiligo and melanoma, with a particular interest in peripheral tolerance induced by PD-1/PD-L1 signaling.
David Rosmarin, MD
Tufts Medical Center
Director, Clinical Trials Unit; Vice-Chair, Research and Education
David Rosmarin went to Harvard College where he received his bachelors degree in chemistry and physics and masters degree in chemistry. After graduating with honors from NYU School of Medicine, he completed his internship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and dermatology residency at Boston University-Tufts University Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program. After a post-doc at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Rosmarin returned to join Tufts Medical Center faculty where he currently serves as Director of the Clinical Trials Unit and Vice-Chair for Research and Education. Dr. Rosmarin is nationally recognized and serves as a referral for physicians with difficult to manage inflammatory diseases of the skin and is dedicated to improving treatments of patients suffering from vitiligo.
Thierry Passeron, MD, PhD
University Côte d'Azur
Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology
Thierry Passeron is Professor and chair of Dermatology in the University hospital of Nice. He also heads the laboratory INSERM U1065 team 12, C3M, dedicated to the study of molecular mechanisms involved in pigmentation and melanoma. He heads the University laser center in Nice. He is president of the Department of Clinical Research and Innovation of Nice University hospital and vice-president of Côte d’Azur University. He has 9 international patents and more than 260 publications in scientific journals (h-index 48). He is co-founder of YUKIN therapeutics. His fields of research include pigmentary disorders (including vitiligo and melasma), melanoma, hidradenitis suppurativa, alopecia areata and lasers.