As a dermatopathologist, I try to integrate clinical and histopathologic findings to arrive at meaningful diagnoses, using immunophenotypic and genotypic findings when necessary. My investigative efforts are aimed at increasing the ability of dermatopathologists to make accurate diagnoses.

I arrived back at UCSF as a faculty member in 1985, after having trained here as a resident in anatomic pathology, and then moving to New York to study dermatopathology under two superb teachers, A. Bernard Ackerman and N. Scott McNutt. In 1985, most dermatologists in the San Francisco area interpreted their own sections and used dermatopathologists for "difficult" cases. In 1987, I began an effort to increase the role of dermatopathologists in this process, an effort that continues to this day, by founding and directing the UCSF Dermatopathology Service. While the first secretary handling this service quit because she did not think it would succeed, it has grown to become one of the largest university-based dermatopathology organizations in the world, with 38,000 accessions in 1998. In 1991, Timothy McCalmont joined the service as a second dermatopathologist, and he and I are now Co-Directors. The service also consults on difficult cases for pathologists and other dermatopathologists, and these cases approximate 2,500/year.

Derm Path Program  

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