Thomas S. Kupper, MD
Chair Emeritus, Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Chair, Department of Dermatology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Thomas B. Fitzpatrick Professor, Harvard Medical School

Keynote Presentation: 40 Years of Research on Skin Immunity

Dr. Kupper was the founding Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he led the department for more than 25 years.  He is chair at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the Thomas B Fitzpatrick Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. He is the founder of the Cutaneous Oncology Disease Center and leads the Cutaneous Lymphoma Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center.  Dr. Kupper is an internationally known expert in the treatment and care of Cutaneous Lymphomas. He is also a respected teacher and mentor, and many of his trainees have gone on to become Department Chairs, Chiefs, or academic faculty around the country and the world.  Dr. Kupper’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for 35 years and is focused on: 1) T cell vaccine biology, 2) T cell immunobiology, including T cell subsets resident to tissue (T_RM), and 3) Cancer immunobiology including immunotherapy. His current work is supported by the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute for Cancer. He has previously been funded by a MERIT award from the NIAID, the first Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in Skin Cancer (NCI), and a Transformative Research Award from the NIH Office of the Director. He has served on multiple NIH study sections from 1991 to present.   He has received numerous awards, including the SID William Montagna Award and Kligman-Frost Leadership Award, the JSID Tanioku Kihei Award, the ESDR Rene Touraine Award, the AAD Marion Sulzberger Award, and is an honorary member of the Korean, Japanese, Swiss, and Austrian Societies for Investigative Dermatology. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Dermatologic Association, the American Association of Physicians and is a Fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences.