By Allison Sit
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) is apologizing for dermatologic experiments conducted on prisoners in the 1960s and 1970s. An internal investigation centered on research performed by Howard Maibach, MD, and William Epstein, MD, both faculty in UCSF’s Department of Dermatology. Epstein was a former chair of the department who died in 2006. Dr. Maibach remains an active member of the department.
The experiments involved incarcerated men at the California Medical Facility (CMF). Some of the experiments exposed research subjects to pesticides and herbicides or administered medications with side effects. In all, some 2,600 incarcerated men were subject to the experiments. The men volunteered for the studies and received payment for participating, but in many cases there was no record of informed consent and the subjects also did not have any of the medical conditions that any of the experiments could have potentially treated or ameliorated.
“I regret having participated in research that did not comply with contemporary standards,” Dr. Maibach wrote. “The work I did with colleagues at CMF was considered by many to be appropriate by the standards of the day, although in retrospect those standards were clearly evolving. I obviously would not work under those circumstances today – as the society in which we live in has unambiguously deemed this inappropriate. Accordingly, I have sincere remorse in relationship to these efforts some decades ago.”
Jack Resneck, MD, chair of the UCSF Department of Dermatology, wrote in a letter to his department that “Much of the research described clearly contradicts our community’s ethical values… Even if this research may have been accepted by some in its time, it is essential that we now acknowledge the harms that were done and the inconsistency with our UCSF values.”
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) is updating its guidelines for the use of topicals in adults with atopic dermatitis. The AAD’s Atopic Dermatitis Workgroup developed 12 recommendations. Strong recommendations were made for topical treatments in which the benefits clearly outweigh the risks and burdens to the patient. They include the use of pimecrolimus 1% cream and tacrolimus 0.03% or 0.1% ointment, crisaborole ointment and ruxolitinib cream, as well as moisturizers and topical corticosteroids. The guidelines provide conditional recommendations for the use of bathing and wet wrap therapy and against the use of topical antimicrobials, antiseptic and antihistamines due to the low certainty of evidence.
“These recommendations are based on the latest evidence-based research on the most effective topical treatments for our patients,” said Dawn Davis, MD, FAAD, co-chair of the AAD’s Atopic Dermatitis Guideline Workgroup. “These recommended treatments can be used individually or in combination with other treatments.”
This is the second in a series of updated guidelines the AAD is producing on the condition. The guidelines were last revised in 2014.
VCU School of Medicine is appointing a dermatologist as its new dean. Arturo P. Saavedra, MD, PhD, will also serve as executive vice president of medical affairs for VCU Health when he assumes his new roles on April 15. Dr. Saavedra is currently chair of the University of Virginia Department of Dermatology, and president and interim chief executive officer of the University of Virginia Physicians Group.
Dr. Saavedra earned combined medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania with specialized training in pharmacology. After completing an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was selected as chief medical resident, Dr. Saavedra graduated from the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program and completed his fellowship in dermatopathology.
“I can’t wait to be part of this great university, to learn and grow with it, and to create strong partnerships in advancing all goals of the School of Medicine,” Dr. Saavedra said.
