Department History

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, then called the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, was opened in Pittsburgh in 1886. After being integrated into the University of Pittsburgh in 1908, the Medical College was permanently renamed the School of Medicine and offered the first medical school courses in Dermatology.

William Harvey Guy, MD, was the earliest chairman of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Department of Dermatology, a position he occupied from 1920 to 1951. Dr. Guy also served as chairman of the Section on Dermatology and Syphiology of the American Medical Association, president of the American Medical Association, and president of the Allegheny County Medical Society, all while serving as chief of Dermatology for many Pittsburgh hospitals.

Lester Hollander, MD, was an influential faculty member in the Department of Dermatology and beyond, motivating Pittsburgh’s public health awareness about the early signs of skin cancer. Dr. Hollander founded the Pittsburgh Skin and Cancer Foundation in 1923, which served patients who were unable to afford dermatology services for the treatment of skin cancer. For over twenty years, Dr. Hollander, along with other dermatologists and dermatology residents, saw patients weekly at the Skin and Cancer Clinic in Oakland. Dr. Hollander also conducted clinical investigations at the Clinic to determine the efficacy of therapeutic skin cancer drugs and shared his findings in respected scholarly journals. 

Frederick Murray Jacob, MD, became chairman of the Department of Dermatology in 1951. Dr. Jacob graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1913 and continued at the School of Medicine through his residency and research training. He was then appointed as a faculty member in the Department of Dermatology, where he became an active physician-scientist; Dr. Jacob was a Mellon Research Fellow in Pathology, an instructor in Immunology, and published regularly on basic science and investigative dermatology. Additionally, Dr. Jacob served as president of the American Dermatologic Association, a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and a 45-year long member, vice president, and president of the Allegheny County Medical Society.  

Both Dr. Hollander and Dr. Jacob were instrumental in establishing the first Dermatology residency program in Pittsburgh in 1946, which operated through the Pittsburgh Skin and Cancer Foundation; during the program’s twenty-one yearlong span, the Foundation trained twelve residents in Dermatology. In 1967, however, the Foundation merged with Presbyterian Hospital and the residency program became defunct. Nonetheless, in 1972, the American Board of Dermatology approved the Department of Dermatology to operate a residency program; the Department then began training two residents each year in a three-year long residency program.

From the late 1950’s through the late 1970’s, the Department of Dermatology was moved from being an independent department to one that was under the umbrella of the Department of Internal Medicine.  Dr. Harry Wechsler served as the Chief of the Division of Dermatology for a decade from the late 1950’s through the late 1960’s. Dr. Paul S. Porter then served as the Chief of the Division of Dermatology until 1978.

After breaking away from the Department of Medicine in the late 1970’s, William Eaglstein, MD, was named chairman of the Department of Dermatology in 1980.  Dr. Eaglstein was fundamental in the addition of a Mohs surgery center, an inpatient dermatology unit, and a Dermatopathology unit to the Department. With Industry and National Institutes on Health (NIH) support, Dr. Eaglstein collaborated with faculty across the University system, extensively researching and publishing on the topic of wound healing.  Dr. Eaglstein left the department in 1986, accepting the position of Chairman at the University of Miami.

Brian V. Jegasothy, MD, was named professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology in 1987, a position he held until 1999.  Dr. Jegasothy was a prominent researcher in the field of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), developing an improved treatment for the disease and designing the standard photoperesis​ method used for severe cases. Dr. Jegasothy also worked closely with the organ transplant research team at the University of Pittsburgh and was crucial in developing a topical form of FK506.