Dr. Jasper Lamar Callaway, 1939-1975
Dr. Callaway was associated with Duke University Medical Center since its beginning. He graduated with the Medical School’s first class in 1933 at the age of 22. On July 1, 1937, he joined the Duke University Medical Center staff as its first dermatologist.
In 1939, Dr. Callaway was named the first chief of dermatology at Duke University Medical Center, a position he held for almost 36 years. In 1967, he was named James B. Duke Professor of Dermatology in recognition of his unique contribution to Duke University and dermatology.
During his career, Dr. Callaway served as president of the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Dermatological Association, the American Board of Dermatology, and the Society of Investigative Dermatology. He is author or co-author of more than 160 scholarly publications.
In 1972, the American Academy of dermatology awarded Dr. Callaway its Gold Medal, only the eighth awarded since the founding of the Academy in 1938. Of the more than 75 physicians Dr. Callaway has trained as dermatologists, nine have become head of departments of dermatology at other medical schools. Under his leadership, Duke University Medical Center’s division of Dermatology has achieved and maintained national recognition for excellence in patient care, teaching and research.
Dr. Gerald Lazarus, 1975-1982
Dr. Gerald Lazarus became the second chief of the Division of Dermatology in 1975. He came to Duke after having previously served as the Head of the Section of Dermatology at Montefoiore Hospital in New York. Dr. Lazarus received his Dermatology training at Harvard Medical School and was Carl Herzog Fellow and Visiting Scientist at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge England.
Dr. Larazus is an expert in the role of proteinases in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases of the skin and in wound healing. Dr. Lazarus along with Drs. Lowell Goldsmith, Brian Jegasoth and Sheldon Pinnell were instrumental in increasing dermatologic research in the Division of Dermatology. In addition, during his time at Duke Dr. Lazarus was instrumental in training numerous academic dermatologist.
In 1977, Dr. Lazarus was named as the first J. Lamar Callaway Professor of Dermatology. In 1982, Dr. Lazarus left Duke to become the Milton B Hartzell Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, Dr. Lazarus became Dean of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.
In 1999, Dr. Lazarus was Visiting Professor at the Peking Union Medical College and Hospital in Peking, China. In 2002, he joined the Department of Dermatology at John Hopkins University School of Medicine where he is director of the Johns Hopkins Wound Center. Dr. Lazarus is the recipient of the Marion Sulzberger Memorial Award from the American Academy of Dermatology and the Montagna Award Lectureship from the Society of Investigative Dermatology.
Dr. Lazarus has served many leadership roles in the American Academy of Dermatology and Society of Investigative Dermatology, including serving as President of the SID in 1997. Dr. Lazarus continues to be closely associated with Duke Dermatology serving as a frequent Visiting Professor and consultant.
Dr. Sheldon Pinnell, 1982-1997
As chief of the Division of Dermatology from 1982 to 1997, Dr. Sheldon R. Pinnell led major advances in the understanding of skin biology and the pathogenesis of skin diseases. He also trained and mentored many medical students, residents, and faculty in the art of science of dermatology.
Early in his career, Dr. Pinnell made seminal contributions to the understanding of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and the role of vitamin C in collagen biosynthesis. More recently, his work has focused on the topical application of antioxidants for protection against skin cancer and photo-aging.
Dr. Pinnell is the founder of three companies: Fibrogen in San Francisco, which designs anti-fibrotic drugs, particularly those that present scarring; SkinCeuticals, a skin care company in Dallas; and SkinResearch, which makes skin cancer prevention products. A graduate of Duke University's Trinity College, he earned his medical degree at Yale Unviersity and trained at the University of Minnesota Hospital, the National Institute of Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in West Germany.
Dr. Pinnell joined Duke's Department of Medicine in 1973 as an associate professor and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Dr. Russell P. Hall, 1997-2020
Dr. Russell Hall is the J. Lamar Callaway Professor of Dermatology professor of immunology, and the chair of the newly created Department of Dermatology at Duke. He joined Duke’s faculty as assistant professor of medicine in 1984 after residencies in internal medicine and dermatology at the University of Missouri – Columbia and Johns Hopkins, as well as five combined years in the Dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute.
He previously served as the deputy editor for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and is currently the secretary-treasurer for the Society for Investigative Dermatology.
He and his wife, Jean, also a physician, have two children.