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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 30, 2021

CONTACT:
Kathleen Reichert
American Skin Association
917-538-5731
kathleen@americanskin.org

AMERICAN SKIN ASSOCIATION
ANNOUNCES RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

AMY S. PALLER, MD
2021 RECIPIENT OF
DAVID MARTIN CARTER MENTOR AWARD

April 30, 2021 - New York, NY – American Skin Association (ASA) has announced the recipients of the 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award and the 2021 Research Achievement Awards.

For over three decades, ASA's David Martin Carter Mentor Award has honored members of the dermatology community who embody the characteristics that made the late Dr. David Martin Carter an inspiration to dermatologists, investigators, and medical students throughout the world. Dr. Carter and ASA's late founder, Dr. George Hambrick, worked tirelessly to grow the organization into a leading force to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and other skin diseases.

The 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award is being presented to Amy S. Paller, MD of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. As both a scientist and an active clinician, Dr. Paller, Department Chair and Walter J. Hamlin Professor of Dermatology, is dedicated to translating new discoveries about skin disease from bench to bedside.

For over thirty years, she has influenced the field of dermatology as a distinguished clinician, researcher, mentor and educator. She has served on the faculty of the Northwestern University since 1988, where she currently serves as director of the Northwestern University Skin Disease Research Center (SDRC), one of six SDRCs in the country. Her NIH-funded basic science and clinical research — which ranges from immune-mediated inflammatory diseases in children to diabetic wound healing and topical gene therapy for skin disorders — is frequently published in top journals, including JAMA, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Congratulations to Dr. Paller and the 2021 Research Achievement Award recipients! We are honored to recognize these outstanding physicians in the field of dermatology for their vital work," said Howard P. Milstein, Chairman of ASA.

"We are excited to present the 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award to Dr. Amy Paller," said Dr. David Norris, President of ASA. "Dr. Paller is the 30th honoree to receive this prestigious award. Throughout her distinguished research career, she has prepared a generation of young scientists for careers in dermatology."

Recent recipients of the David Martin Carter Mentor Award include: Dr. Gerald Lazarus of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2014), Dr. Howard Baden of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2015), Dr. Barbara Gilchrest of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2016), Dr. Richard Edelson of Yale School of Medicine (2017), Dr. Kathleen Green of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (2018), Dr. Luis Diaz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2019), Dr. John Stanley of the University of Pennsylvania, (2019) and Dr. Paul Bergstresser of UT Southwestern Medical Center (2020).

ASA's Research Achievement Awards were instituted in 1989 to identify established scientists in investigative dermatology and cutaneous biology. This year, ASA recognized those who have greatly advanced work related to autoimmunity and inflammation, skin cancer and melanoma, psoriasis, vitiligo and pigment cell biology, public policy and medical education, discovery and for the first time in the history of the awards, translational research.

The following Research Achievement Awards were presented:

2021 Research Achievement Award in Autoimmunity and Inflammation
Rachael A. Clark, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital

2021 Research Achievement Award in Skin Cancer and Melanoma
Martin A. Weinstock, MD, PhD
Brown University

2021 Research Achievement Award in Psoriasis
Johann E. Gudjonsson, MD, PhD
University of Michigan

2021 Research Achievement Award in Vitiligo and Pigment Cell Biology
I. Caroline Le Poole, PhD
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

2021 Research Achievement Award in Public Policy and Medical Education
Mark Lebwohl, MD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

2021 Research Achievement Award in Discovery
Brian Kim, MD
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

2021 Inaugural Research Achievement Award in Translational Research
Robert S. Kirsner, MD, PhD
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

"We are excited to present the Research Achievement Awards this year to such exceptional doctors. Drs. Paller, Clark, Weinstock, Gudjonsson, Le Poole, Lebwohl, Kim and Kirsner have all made impressive contributions in their respective fields. ASA is pleased to celebrate their many exciting achievements," said Dr. Norris.

ABOUT AMERICAN SKIN ASSOCIATION

ASA is a unique collaboration of patients, families, advocates, physicians, and scientists, and has evolved over 34 years into a leading force in efforts to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and important inflammatory and genetic skin diseases. Established to serve the now more than 100 million Americans — one-third of the U.S. population — afflicted with skin disorders, the organization’s mission remains to advance research, champion skin health — particularly among children, and drive public awareness about skin disease. For more information, visit americanskin.org.