Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, has been named Chair of the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System.

Emma Guttman-Yassky, MD, PhD, is the new Chair of the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System.

She will be the first woman to serve as Chair of a Department of Dermatology in New York City. She is currently the Sol and Clara Kest Professor of Dermatology, Vice Chair of Research, Director of the Center for Excellence in Eczema, and Director of the Laboratory of Inflammatory Skin Diseases at Mount Sinai. She will retain her Center and Laboratory roles.

Dr. Guttman-Yassky will replace Mark Lebwohl, MD, who is stepping down after 24 years. Dr. Lebwohl has been promoted to the new position of Dean for Clinical Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and will now focus on generating new clinical research programs throughout the Mount Sinai Health System.

During his time as Chair, Dr. Lebwohl, the Waldman Professor of Dermatology, created Mount Sinai’s first phototherapy center, and added divisions of dermatopathology, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology.

“I am both excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve as System Chair for the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai,” says Dr. Guttman-Yassky. “I would like to thank Dr. Lebwohl for his leadership, passion, and outstanding achievements during his time as Chair at Mount Sinai. Under his leadership, Mount Sinai has participated in groundbreaking clinical trials in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis and has become a leader in inflammatory skin disease. I look forward to continuing his excellent and meaningful work.”

In her new role as Chair, Dr. Guttman-Yassky will continue her inflammatory disease research program focusing on eczema/atopic dermatitis (AD), which has also recently expanded to other inflammatory skin diseases, including alopecia areata, scarring alopecia, keloids, and ichthyosis.

“Dr. Guttman-Yassky is an exceptional clinician and researcher whose transformative work in inflammatory skin diseases is changing the lives of millions of patients around the world,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System. “She is very committed to making a difference in the lives of her patients and will serve as an outstanding teacher and mentor to the next generation of dermatologists at Mount Sinai and around the globe.”

Board certified in dermatology in the United States and Israel, Dr. Guttman-Yassky earned her medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, and her PhD from Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, both in Israel. She completed a dermatology residency at the Rambam Medical Center/Technion Institute in Haifa, a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University, and a second dermatology residency at Weill-Cornell Medicine in New York. She joined the Icahn School of Medicine faculty in 2011 upon completion of her training.

Dr. Guttman-Yassky is co-founder and current President of the International Eczema Council. She has received many national and international awards, most recently the research achievement award of the American Skin Association, and the Bettina C. Hillman lectureship and award for therapeutic innovation from the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology.