What Went Wrong? How Dysregulated Type 2 Immunity Contributes to AD, PN, CSU, and BP

Eric Simpson, MD, MCR, practices medical dermatology with special interests in chronic inflammatory skin diseases and skin cancer. He is actively involved in clinical research and is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and industry partners to study new approaches to chronic skin disease treatment and prevention.

His collaborations are global in scope, and he has been invited to present his research and approach to patient care at international conferences in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. He has published over 290 scientific articles in several high-impact peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet.

He supports patient advocacy and improving research quality by serving as Co-Chair of the Harmonizing Outcome Measures in Eczema (HOME) – a volunteer group of patients, providers, and other stakeholders whose mission is to improve the quality of eczema research to better suit the needs of patients and policy-makers. He is also serving as Chair of the NEA Research Advisory Committee.

Research funding AbbVie, Acrotech Biopharma Inc, Amgen, Arcutis, Aslan, Castle Biosciences, CorEvitas, Dermavant, Dermira, Eli Lilly, Incyte, Kymab, Kyowa Kirin, National Jewish Health, Leo, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Target RWE, VeriSkin. Speaker and/or consulting fees AbbVie, Amgen, Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Areteia Therapeutics, Bristol Myers Squibb – BMS, CorEvitas, Corvus, Dermira, Eli Lilly, Evelo Biosciences, FIDE, Forte Bio RX, Galderma, GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead Sciences Inc, Impetus Healthcare, Incyte, Innovaderm Reche, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson,  Kyowa Kirin Pharmaceutical Development, Leo Pharm, Merck, NUMAB Therapeutics AG, Pfizer, Physicians World LLC, PRImE, Recludix Pharma, Regeneron, Roivant, Sanofi-Genzyme, SITRYX Therapeutics, Tervi Therapeutics, Valeant.

Dr Hawkes is a board-certified dermatologist and Investigator at the Oregon Medical Research Center in Portland, OR. He completed his medical school and residency at the University of Utah. During medical school, he was selected for a fellowship in translational immunology in the HHMI Research Scholars Program at the NIH. He also received a Master’s Degree in Clinical Investigation from Rockefeller University, where he was Chief Clinical Scholar and Principal Investigator on multiple human research protocols in the Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology. He has held academic appointments in the Departments of Dermatology at the University of Utah, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and University of California-Davis.

Dr Hawkes is a current Councilor in the International Psoriasis Council and serves on the NPF Medical Board and Scientific Advisory Committee. He also serves as the official delegate of the AAD as a member of the international guidelines and workgroup committee for urticaria. His research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, NPF, and Dermatology Foundation, and he is the recipient of several teaching awards including NPF Outstanding Educator in Psoriatic Disease and Exceptional Teacher of the Year in the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai. His primary clinical and research interests include novel immune therapies for inflammatory conditions like psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa, alopecia areata, vitiligo, and chronic urticaria.

Medical/scientific board Medical board, National Psoriasis Foundation Scientific Advisory Committee, National Psoriasis Foundation Councilor, International Psoriasis Council. Speaker and/or consulting fees Apogee, Arcutis, BI, Blueprint Medicines, BMS, Boxer Capital LLC, Cogent Biosciences, Galderma, Institute for Systems Biology, Janssen, LEO, Novartis, Regeneron, Sanofi, Sun Pharma, Takeda, UCB.

Dr Shawn Kwatra is the Joseph W. Burnett Endowed Professor and Chairman of Dermatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, USA. He is an internationally renowned dermatologist and clinical leader in skin of color research, as well as chronic inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic dermatitis, prurigo nodularis, and chronic pruritus of unknown origin. Dr. Kwatra also has expertise in managing cutaneous adverse events associated with immunotherapy.

He specializes in medical dermatology, and is board certified by the American Board of Dermatology. His areas of clinical expertise include chronic pruritus, prurigo nodularis, atopic dermatitis and dermatology for ethnic skin. Dr. Kwatra’s primary clinical and translational research interests comprise the pathogenesis and treatment of chronic pruritus and he is funded by the National Institutes of Health and multiple foundations. Dr. Kwatra obtained his undergraduate degree from Duke University and undertook his medical training at Wake Forest University of Medicine. He completed his dermatology residency training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr Kwatra has been an author or co-author on over 270 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology, the Society for Investigative Dermatology, the International Forum for the Study of Itch and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Skin of Color Society.

Research funding Pfizer, Sanofi, Incyte. Speaker and/or consulting fees AbbVie, Arcutis, Galderma, Incyte, Pfizer, Sanofi, Regeneron, Janssen.

Dr Werth received her MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, followed by residency and a postdoctoral research fellowship in Immunodermatology at New York University. Dr Werth moved to Penn in 1989 as Chief of Dermatology at the Philadelphia VA Hospital. At Penn she directs the Autoimmune Skin Disease study unit, and performs clinical and translational research studies in autoimmune skin disease funded by NIH, autoimmune foundations, and industry. She has performed a number of industry trials for pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid. She has a basic research lab at the VA devoted to autoimmune skin disease and photobiology, funded by NIH and the VA.

Dr Werth’s clinical practice specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with autoimmune skin diseases, including autoimmune blistering disease, lupus erythematosus, and dermatomyositis. She led an international effort to develop disease severity tools for several autoimmune blistering diseases, including pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid. These tools are now used in international trials that are developing new drugs for autoimmune blistering diseases, including the trial leading to the recent FDA approval of Rituximab for pemphigus vulgaris.

Dr Werth has also performed studies to determine the impact of bullous diseases on Quality-of-life. Her research laboratory has determined the heterogeneity of the inflammatory cell infiltrate in skin in photo-induced autoimmune skin diseases, and correlated this with the response to therapy. Her laboratory has also performed translational research to better understand how novel therapies that modulate inflammatory cells work in autoimmune skin disease. She has been on the IPPF Medical Advisory Board since the beginning of the foundation.

Dr Werth has received numerous honors for her work, including the lifetime achievement award from the Medical Dermatology Society, the Rose Hirschler Award from the Women’s Dermatologic Society, and the American Skin Associations’s Research Achievement Award in Autoimmune & Inflammatory Skin Disorders, the Lifetime Career Educator Award from the Dermatology Foundation, and the Naomi Kanof Clinical Investigator Award from the Society of Investigative Dermatology.

Research funding Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, BMS, Corbus Pharmaceuticals, CSL Behring, Gilead, Horizon, Pfizer, Priovant, Regeneron, Rome Pharmaceuticals, Ventus, Viela. Speaker and/or consulting fees AbbVie, Alpine Immune Sciences, Amgen, Anaptysbio, Argenx, AstraZeneca, Biogen, BMS, Cabaletta Bio, Calyx, Caribou, Crisalis, CSL Behring, Cugene, EMD Sorona, Evommune, Gilead, GSK, Horizon, Immunovant, Innovaderm, Janssen, Kyowa Kirin, Lily, Merck, Nektar, Nuvig Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Regeneron, Rome Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Takeda, UCB, Ventus, Viela Bio, Xencor