Sun Pharma, Mount Sinai Leaders Discuss Long-Term Vision Behind $2.5 Million Dermatology Endowment

Sun Pharma’s’ $2.5 million endowed professorship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai represents an extension of a longstanding collaboration centered on dermatology research, physician education, and patient care, according to representatives from both organizations.

In separate interviews with Practical Dermatology, Sun Pharma Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Ahmad B. Naim, MD, and Mark Lebwohl, MD, the inaugural Sun Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai, discussed the relationship behind the recently announced endowment and its implications for the department's future.

Dr. Naim said the collaboration developed over several years through Sun Pharma’s work with Mount Sinai and Dr. Lebwohl, particularly in research for inflammatory skin diseases and skin cancer and educational initiatives for health care professionals.

“Within both my team and the other cross-functional teams at Sun, appropriate healthcare education is one of our focuses ,” Dr. Naim said. “As we strengthen our partnership with Mount Sinai, it is a natural fit to recognize our commitment to dermatology with one of the best institutions in the world and foster that relationship even further.”

He described the professorship as a natural extension of that relationship and the company’s broader investment in dermatology.

Both Dr. Naim and Dr. Lebwohl cited Sun Pharma Founder Dilip Shanghvi’s influence.

“If you look at any articles written about Dilip Shanghvi in the press, you’ll see what I immediately saw in all the times that I met with him: he is so committed to patient care,” Dr. Lebwohl said. “He really wants to make his drugs available to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay for the drugs. He is dedicated to making people better. That is what impressed me most about him. Mount Sinai was happy to get an endowed professorship from someone with that reputation.”

Reinforcing a Relationship Based on Shared Values

Dr. Lebwohl, who chaired Mount Sinai’s Department of Dermatology for 26 years, explained that the endowed professorship establishes a permanent source of financial support for an academic faculty position.

“There will always be a Sun Professor of Dermatology at Mount Sinai,” Dr. Lebwohl said.

Dr. Naim said the commitment to education was key in naming Dr. Lebwohl as the first occupant of the position.

“He has always been extremely helpful in guiding what helps healthcare providers the most in terms of education,” Dr. Naim said. “What sort of disease state education can we provide to clinicians? What disease awareness can we partner on? One of the deepest, oldest relationships that Sun has is with Mount Sinai, and the focal point of it is Dr. Lebwohl.”

Dr. Lebwohl also discussed his involvement in clinical research involving two Sun Pharma therapies: tildrakizumab for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and sonidegib for advanced basal cell carcinoma.

“Tildrakizumab is one of the best treatments we have, and it is available to almost every patient without cost,” Dr. Lebwohl said. “Sonidegib, meanwhile, is a drug that has been used often in the Medicare population; Sun Pharma made sure to overcome all the barriers and hurdles to getting the drug approved by Medicare, and I cannot remember a patient ever being denied that drug.”

Dr. Lebwohl further emphasized the importance of treatment accessibility by recounting individual patient experiences in which access to medication had a substantial impact on care. These experiences, he said, helped shape his appreciation for the company’s patient-support efforts.

Looking ahead, Dr. Lebwohl described the endowed position as part of Mount Sinai’s broader academic mission, citing the department’s contributions to therapeutic development in psoriasis, atopic dermatitis,  other inflammatory skin diseases, and skin cancer.

“The partnership was a natural one because we are involved in the development of some of their drugs, and we have the same goals, which is to help patients,” Lebwohl said.