Dr. Philip LeBoit is a dermatopathologist, a specialist in diagnosing skin conditions by examining samples under a microscope. He founded the UCSF Dermatopathology and Oral Pathology Service in 1987 so that more patients could benefit from expertise in this subspecialty.
In research, LeBoit has studied characteristics of skin lymphoma; pioneered the study of bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis hepatis, uncommon infections that particularly affect immunocompromised patients; and investigated specific subtypes of dermatitis (skin inflammation) as well as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (thickening and darkening of the skin due to Gadolinium toxicity in patients with advanced kidney disease). He also was among the first researchers to link molecular and morphologic characteristics in melanoma and related tumors. He has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and more than 25 book chapters. He co-edited the dermatology textbook Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery, co-authored the textbook Histological Diagnosis of Nevi and Melanoma, and edited the World Health Organization's blue book, Skin Tumors. He has given more than 500 lectures in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
LeBoit earned his medical degree at Albany Medical College. He completed a residency in pathology at UCSF and at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, followed by a residency in laboratory medicine at UCSF. He completed fellowships in dermatopathology at New York University and New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
LeBoit served as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Dermatopathology from 1997 to 2006, as associate editor for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and as an editor of Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery. He has been president and secretary-treasurer of the International Society of Dermatopathology and is a member of its executive committee. He received the Ackerman Award from the International Society of Dermatopathology and is the only person to have received the Founders' Award, the Nickel Award and the Pinkus Award from the American Society of Dermatopathology.
