Dr. Jennifer Nam Choi Appointed Chief of OncoDermatology for Northwestern Medicine
Jennifer Nam Choi, MD, has been named Chief of the Division of OncoDermatology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and associate professor in the Department of Dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Choi is an accomplished dermatologist specializing in the management of the dermatological complications of cancer treatment.
"Dr. Choi comes to Northwestern with a mission to markedly expand our already outstanding and unique multi-faculty program for patients with cancer who develop complications," said Amy Paller, MD, chief of dermatology at Northwestern Memorial, and the Walter J. Hamlin professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at Feinberg. "Her expertise and energy will further synergize the collaborative network of dermatologists with oncologists and radiation oncologists to provide superb patient care and advance cutting-edge research."
The Division of OncoDermatology is comprised of dermatologists who specialize in treating the mucocutaneous complications of cancer treatments and comprises one of five units within Northwestern Medicine's Skin Cancer Institute of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Specifically, Choi's team provides care for skin, mucosal, hair and nail toxicities in patients undergoing cancer treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation. Her team also manages toxicities that may arise as a result of stem cell or solid organ transplantation – utilizing its graft-vs-host disease program, the skin cancer surveillance initiative for high-risk patients and Northwestern Memorial's extracorporeal photopheresis unit. In addition, the Division of OncoDermatology provides in-patient cancer center consultations, as well as comprehensive skin care and skin cancer surveillance for all cancer survivors.
Choi came to Northwestern Medicine from the Yale School of Medicine, where she was the founder and director of the Yale Oncodermatology Clinic since 2008 and also served as the Melanoma Unit Disease Team co-leader at the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Conn., since 2009. Although oncodermatology is her focus, Choi will also join the nationally recognized melanoma team at Northwestern Medicine.
"It is truly an honor to have received this prestigious appointment," said Choi, who is also a member of the Lurie Cancer Center's Clinical Cancer Center Executive Council. "I am looking forward to working with the team to further advance the high-quality of care, research and services the Division of OncoDermatology has to offer."
Choi received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine and graduated Cum Laude in 2003. She went on to complete an internship at the Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass., through the Harvard Medical School, and returned to Yale to complete her residency in dermatology at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn., in 2007. Choi took on an appointment as an instructor in the Department of Dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine that same year and was then promoted to assistant professor in 2008.
Throughout her career, Choi has published extensively on oncodermatology and skin cancer care. Among her many professional affiliations, Choi is co-chair of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Skin Toxicity Working Group and a current member of the Medical Dermatology Society, American Academy of Dermatology and Women's Dermatologic Society.