Eugene J. Van Scott, MD: Honored with the Dermatology Foundation's Highest Award-the Distinguished Service Medallion

For only the third time in its almost 40-year history, the Dermatology Foundation honored one of dermatology's leaders with its prestigious Distinguished Service Medallion. Eugene J. Van Scott, MD, was honored at the Foundation's Annual Meeting on February 7, 2004 during the annual convention of the American Academy of Dermatology in Washington, DC.

The list of prestigious awards accorded him over the years is lengthy. But his most enduring legacy in a highly memorable career arises from his role as a founder, and then guiding influence, of the Dermatology Foundation.

Dr. Van Scott has been a member of the specialty for more than a half century, since his residency at the University of Chicago Clinics. This followed his BS and then MD at the University of Chicago. He has been a guiding light in the field, first at the National Cancer Institute, where he headed the Dermatology Branch for 15 years, then in academic medicine. Dr. Van Scott spent two decades on the faculty at Temple University, then several years at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. He was also an eminent spokesman and man of action on many fronts, playing formative roles in the National Psoriasis Foundation and the Society for Investigative Dermatology, holding important committee advisory positions, and serving twice on the AAD Board of Directors.

In 1964, Dr. Van Scott helped to make history as one of the 10 visionary founders of the Dermatology Foundation, then served on the Board of Trustees until 1973. In 1994 he continued his pioneering influence as one of the founders of the Annenberg Circle, bringing a new level of commitment and financial support for the Foundation's Research Awards Program. This exceptional $25,000 contribution to furthering the specialty's powerful research base in medical and surgical dermatology confers lifetime membership at the highest level.

The Dermatology Foundation's growth from a new idea to a membership in the thousands, a budget in the millions, substantial industry support, and a research agenda rich in breadth and depth owes this success in no small measure to Dr. Van Scott.

The three previous recipients of this award were Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, MD, PhD, jointly with Irvin H. Blank, PhD, in 1989, and then Howard V. Dubin, MD, in 1998.

The Dermatology Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 1964 by concerned dermatologists to provide a national organization for advancing patient care through funded research, and is now second only to the federal government as a source of funding for investigative dermatology. The Foundation raises funds from within both the specialty and from the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and surgical industries to support a research program of the highest quality that is also exceptional in its breadth and depth.