Paul Khavari appointed dermatology chair

Paul Khavari

STANFORD, Calif. — Paul Khavari, MD, PhD, will be the next chair of the Department of Dermatology in the Stanford University School of Medicine, officially taking the position on July 1.

“I am extremely pleased that Dr. Khavari has accepted our invitation to lead the Department of Dermatology, and I am confident that he and his colleagues will do an outstanding job,” said Philip Pizzo, MD, the dean of the medical school. “Dr. Khavari is one of the most respected academic leaders in dermatology in the nation,” he went on, noting that Khavari, the Carl J. Herzog Professor of Dermatology, succeeds Alfred Lane, MD, professor of dermatology and of pediatrics, who has served as chair for the past 14 years.

“Dr. Lane is very much respected and admired by his department, his colleagues at Stanford, and those across the nation for his contributions as an academic leader and clinical investigator,” said Pizzo. “He was recently the recipient of a major disease team award from the California Institute forf Regenerative Medicine and will continue to provide guidance, mentorship and oversight for the department's clinical research efforts.”

Khavari added: “Dr. Lane built on the strong framework of his predecessor, Eugene Bauer, MD, and catalyzed enormous progress for dermatology at Stanford. He nurtured the growth of the department by recruiting and supporting new faculty members, by establishing what is now a renowned pediatric dermatology division, and by personally leading efforts to translate basic research on skin diseases into clinical treatments. As a result, Stanford is now at the forefront of the field of molecular medicine and stem cell biology for diseases of the skin. I look forward to working in the outstanding community he has developed to help the dermatology department at Stanford continue to grow and succeed.”

Specifically, Khavari mentioned his plans to continue to enhance the clinical and educational missions of the department while also integrating its research endeavors more tightly within the university’s broad focus on cancer, regenerative medicine and immunology.

Khavari earned his undergraduate degree at Stanford and his MD degree at Yale University. After completing his internship and residency training at Yale, he returned to Stanford, where he earned a PhD and conducted his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Gerald Crabtree, MD, professor of pathology at the medical school and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Khavari joined the faculty in 1993. He has served as chief of the dermatology service at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and is a member of the Stanford Cancer Center. 

Khavari’s clinical interests focus on non-melanoma skin cancer. His research centers on gene regulation in homeostasis and cancer and on the development of new molecular therapeutics for skin disease. He is the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Shannon Award from the National Institutes of Health. He has also received the American Dermatological Association Young Leader Award, the American Academy of Dermatology Marion B. Sulzberger Award and the Society for Investigative Dermatology William Montagna Award and has been elected to American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians.