December 20, 2007

Fisher named chief of MGH Dermatology

David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, (left) an internationally known researcher, clinician and academic, has been named chief of the MGH Department of Dermatology, director of the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center and director of the Melanoma Center at MGH. Fisher succeeds John Parrish, MD, who has led the department since 1987. A professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Fisher comes to the MGH from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), where he directed the Melanoma Program.

His research has focused on the molecular mechanisms of melanocyte biology; specifically, the developmental, signaling and transcriptional pathways responsible for human melanomas, hyperpigmentation, albinism and hair graying. Most recently, his work at the DFCI identified the transcription factor, MITF, as essential for the development of normal melanocytes as well as responsible for cancerous transformations. As a clinician, he has worked to translate these new understandings into advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases related to the skin and associated disorders.

A graduate of Swarthmore College with a degree in Biology and Chemistry, Fisher is also an accomplished concert cellist and received a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After completing a doctoral degree at Rockefeller University, he began his medical training at Cornell University Medical College and his residency in Internal Medicine at the MGH. Following the completion of clinical fellowships in both adult and pediatric oncology at the DFCI and Children's Hospital Boston and his postdoctoral research at MIT's Center for Cancer Research, Fisher joined the DFCI staff.

He currently is the president of the Society for Melanoma Research, the largest international society dedicated to the study of melanoma. Fisher will begin his post at the MGH after the new year.