American Skin Association research grant recipients to target psoriasis, vitiligo, more

Key takeaways:

• The American Skin Association has awarded grants amounting to $50 million over the past 37 years.
• These grants are used to expand treatments and find cures for skin cancer and other skin diseases.

The American Skin Association has announced the recipients of its 2024 research grants for skin cancer and diseases, according to a press release.

Administered by the association’s medical advisory committee, these grants, amounting to a total of $50 million over the span of 37 years, have long been used to advance the American Skin Association (ASA) mission of helping Americans with skin disorders by enhancing treatments and finding cures.

“ASA’s medical advisory committee is thrilled to announce the 2024 awards,” David A. Norris, MD, ASA president and medical advisory committee co-chair, said in the release. “This year’s awardees showcase the increasing impact of research in basic, translational and clinical dermatology. Never before have advances in basic research so rapidly translated into new treatment approaches.”

The ASA awards many different categories of grants including the Investigative Scientist Awards and the Research Scholar Awards. This year, the ASA kicked off the announcement of winners by releasing the names of the three Investigative Scientist Award recipients.

The first was Andrew Ji, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who received the ASA Sanofi Investigative Scientist Award in Atopic Dermatitis. The ASA Bristol Myers Squibb Investigative Scientist Award in Psoriasis & Related Biology was awarded to Christoph T. Ellebrecht, MD, of University of Pennsylvania, and the ASA Sun Pharma Investigative Scientist Award was awarded to Nicholas Gulati, MD, PhD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The four recipients of the Research Scholar Awards included: Kingsley Essien, PhD, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, ASA Calder Research Scholar Award in Vitiligo/Pigment Cell Disorders; Patrick M. Brunner, MD, MSc, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, ASA Incyte Research Scholar Award in Vitiligo/Pigment Cell Disorders; Helen He, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, ASA Research Scholar Award in Atopic Dermatitis; and Christine C. Yokoyama, MD, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, ASA Janssen Research Scholar Award in Psoriasis & Related Biology.

The ASA also awards research grants and medical student grants to established investigators and medical students studying skin cancer and other skin diseases. Remaining winners of these 2024 grants included:

• Umber Dube, MD, PhD, University of California, San Diego, ASA Mulvaney Family Foundation Research Grant in Vitiligo/Pigment Cell Disorders;
• Mohammad A. Saad, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, ASA La Roche-Posay Research Grant in Melanoma and Skin Cancer;
• Cory L. Simpson, MD, PhD, University of Washington, ASA Bristol Myers Squibb Research Grant in Psoriasis & Related Biology;
• Bahram Razani, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, ASA Arcutis Biotherapeutics Research Grant in Psoriasis & Related Biology;
• Sarah K. Whitley, MD, PhD, UMass Chan Medical School, ASA UCB Research Grant in Psoriasis & Related Biology;
• Richard Wang, MD, PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, ASA LEO Pharma Research Grant in Atopic Dermatitis; and
• Aaron Bao, BA, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, ASA Bristol Myers Squibb Medical Student Grant in Psoriasis & Related Biology.

“Thanks to crucial funding from the ASA, new treatments for vitiligo, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, melanoma and other skin cancers are on the horizon,” Norris concluded.