ASA's 2020 Research Achievement Award Winners Named

Dr. Paul Bergstresser of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas is the recipient of the American Skin Association’s (ASA) 2020 David Martin Carter Mentor Award

Since 1989, ASA's David Martin Carter Mentor Award has honored members of the dermatology community who embody the characteristics of the late Dr. David Martin Carter.  Dr. Carter and ASA's late founder, Dr. George Hambrick were close friends who worked to grow the organization.

Dr. Bergstresser has served on the faculty of the UT Southwestern Medical School since 1976, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. Under his leadership, the Department of Dermatology received a National Institutes of Health Skin Disease Research Center Grant for three cycles.  His current research concerns the early diagnosis of melanoma.

"Congratulations to Dr. Paul Bergstresser and the 2020 Research Achievement Award recipients! ASA is honored to continue to recognize these outstanding physicians in the dermatological community for their crucial work," says Howard P. Milstein, Chairman of ASA, in a news release.

"We are delighted to present the 2020 David Martin Carter Mentor Award to Dr. Paul Bergstresser. Dr. Bergstresser is a renowned researcher and educator, and the 29th honoree to receive this prestigious award. Throughout his distinguished research career, he has prepared a generation of young scientists for careers in dermatology," adds Dr. David Norris, President of ASA.

Recent recipients of the David Martin Carter Mentor Award include Dr. Gerald Lazarus of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2014), Dr. Howard Baden of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2015), Dr. Barbara Gilchrest of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2016), Dr. Richard Edelson of Yale School of Medicine (2017), Dr. Kathleen Green of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (2018), Dr. Luis Diaz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2019) and Dr. John Stanley of the University of Pennsylvania, (2019).

ASA's Research Achievement Awards were instituted in 1989 to identify established scientists in investigative dermatology and cutaneous biology. This year, ASA recognized those who have advanced work related to autoimmunity and inflammation, skin cancer and melanoma, psoriasis, vitiligo and pigment cell biology, public policy and medical education, and for the first time in the history of the awards, discovery.

Recipients include:

Marcus Bosenberg, MD, PhD
Yale University
Research Achievement Award in Vitiligo and Pigment Cell Biology

Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD
Stanford University
Inaugural Research Achievement Award in Discovery

Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Research Achievement Award in Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Samuel Hwang MD, PhD
UC Davis School of Medicine
Research Achievement Award in Psoriasis

David Peng, MD, MPH
University of Southern California
Research Achievement Award in Public Policy and Medical Education

Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital
Research Achievement Award in Skin Cancer and Melanoma

"We are so pleased to present the Research Achievement Awards this year to such exceptional doctors. Drs. Bosenberg, Chang, Guttman-Yassky, Hwang, Peng and Tsao have all made tremendous contributions in their respective fields. ASA is proud to celebrate their brilliant achievements," says Dr. Norris.