Skin Deep: Elevating Excellence in Dermatology at Temerty Medicine
For millions of people, skin conditions are more than surface-level concerns — they can be painful, stigmatizing and life-altering. Whether it’s eczema that keeps a child awake at night or a melanoma that threatens someone’s life, dermatology plays a vital role in human health and well-being.
At the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Division of Dermatology is rising to meet that challenge and gaining global recognition in the process. Recently ranked among the top 10 academic dermatology programs worldwide, the division is a hub of cutting-edge research, exceptional clinical training, and compassionate patient care.
Now, its momentum is being accelerated by a transformative gift: the creation of the Drs. Dev Raj and Saroj Gupta Chair in Dermatology. This endowed chair, to be held in perpetuity by the divisional leadership, will provide long-term, flexible support for the most pressing priorities across the entire division — driving forward city-wide innovation, education and excellence in care.
“It's a huge, pivotal gift,” says Vincent Piguet, the director of Temerty Medicine’s Division of Dermatology and now the inaugural Drs. Dev Raj and Saroj Gupta Chair in Dermatology. “Our division is the largest academic unit of its kind in Canada, with more than 50 clinical and research faculty members and 50 residents and fellows, across 6 or more of the University’s partner hospitals at any given time. We have very robust residency and research programs – this chair will really energize every aspect of that work.”
As Piguet explains, the importance of supporting quality research on skin health is difficult to overstate and impacts millions of patients living with complex skin conditions, such as high-risk pigmented lesions, melanomas and other severe skin cancers, inflammatory skin disorders (e.g. psoriasis, eczema), vascular malformations and tumours, HIV dermatology and alopecias, or who need advanced wound care or transplant dermatology.
“Dermatology is a big specialty in terms of public need,” says Piguet, who also serves as the head of dermatology at Women's College Hospital. “One out of 10 visits at the family doctor involves a skin complaint and our specialists are often turned to for support diagnosing and treating these patients.”
Until recently, Toronto — a city known internationally for excellence in dermatology — had no endowed chairs in the field. That changed with the creation of the AbbVie Chair in Ethnodermatology at the University of Toronto in 2022, and now the Gupta Chair will further reinforce the division’s reputation high-impact skin health research and education.
The body’s largest organ
As the largest organ in the human body, there are a litany of life-threatening or physically debilitating skin conditions that dermatologists diagnose and treat every day.
For example, millions of Canadians live with eczema and psoriasis, inflammatory conditions that lead to itchy and often painful lesions in the skin that can disrupt sleep, physical activity and relationship intimacy. Some patients with severe forms of eczema even report having to change careers or manage frequent work absences due to repeat infections and environmental triggers.
On top of navigating physical and financial impacts, patients often must manage social and mental health repercussions of these highly visible conditions.
“We frequently have patients come in with visible skin conditions and hear about how they’re being horribly bullied at school or avoided at work,” says Piguet. “Being subjected to this level of stigma can be just as damaging as having high blood pressure.”
The Division of Dermatology works to relieve this suffering by supporting faster and earlier diagnoses as well as by improving treatment effectiveness through its work training health-care professionals and conducting research. They also recently launched the first Inflammatory Disease Fellowship, the first of its kind in Toronto, where trainees undertake a 12-month program incorporating general dermatology and phototherapy clinics as well as clinical and translational research focused on inflammatory skin diseases such as Atopic Dermatitis, Psoriasis or Hidradenitis Suppurativa.
“Seeing the positive impact of our work on patients' lives is what drives us to do even more,” says Piguet.
