Thomas B. Fitzpatrick
| Thomas B. Fitzpatrick | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 19, 1919 Madison, Wisconsin |
| Died |
November 16, 2003 (aged 83) Lexington, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Dermatologist |
| Known for | research on melanoma and UV exposure |
Thomas B. Fitzpatrick (December 19, 1919 – November 16, 2003) was an American dermatologist.
He was Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital Dermatology Service from 1959 to 1987. He has been described as "the father of modern academic dermatology" and as "the most influential dermatologist of the last 100 years", in part because he trained so many of the leaders in the field.
Fitzpatrick was born in Madison, Wisconsin on December 19, 1919. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin. He then received an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School, where he became interested in the relatively new specialty of dermatology. After an internship at Boston City Hospital he went to the University of Minnesota for a Ph.D. in pathology. After two years at the Army Medical Center during World War II, he trained in clinical dermatology at the University of Michigan and the Mayo Clinic.
At the age of 32, fresh out of training, he became Professor and Chair of Dermatology at the University of Oregon. In 1959, still only 39, he was named chair of the Dermatology Department at Harvard Medical School, the youngest professor and chair at Harvard.
He was an early researcher into the then-rare cancer, malignant melanoma. In 1966 he and dermatopathologist Wallace H. Clark, Jr., together with John Raker and Martin C. Mihm, Jr., created the first Pigmented Lesion Clinic in the United States at Massachusetts General Hospital. Clark's studies at that clinic resulted in the Clark's level system, which uses the microscopic appearance of a melanoma to predict its clinical course and prognosis. Fitzpatrick's group also produced the first systematic study of the early warning signs of melanoma.
...
Wikipedia