Systemic Biologic Therapies for Psoriasis

Victor Huang, MD, graduated from UCSF Medical School in 2008, during which he completed a Howard Hugh Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in laboratory of Sam Hwang, MD, PhD studying skin inflammation and immunology. He subsequently completed a residency in Dermatology at Washington University in St. Louis in 2012, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship studying skin resident T cells in the laboratory of Rachael Clark, MD, PhD at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In 2014, he assumed the role as Director of the Vitiligo Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and has been involved with investigator initiated trials, clinical, and epidemiologic research focusing on vitiligo. He also completed a year-long mentorship program through the American Academy of Dermatology working with Amit Pandya, MD, in 2018. He has lectured nationally on the topic of vitiligo and maintains and interest in developing meaningful outcome measures of patients affected by this disease. Since 2018, Dr. Huang has established a vitiligo specialty clinic in the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, Davis.

The standard of care for vitiligo includes topical immune modulators including topical steroids and calcineurin inhibitors, UV-based phototherapy, and systemic immune modulators. These agents inhibit the autoimmune inflammatory response in the skin. In the case of UV-based phototherapy, the therapy is thought to stimulate melanogenesis and repigmentation as well. The repigmentation process occurs over the course of months to years. Second line treatments include surgical approaches designed to transplant autologous viable melanocytes to depigmented areas. There have been several advances in recent years with regards to understanding the underlying immunologic pathogenesis of vitiligo leading to promising new targeted immune modulating therapies.

I was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia and moved to Fremont, California, a diverse city near Silicon Valley, for the remainder of my childhood. I completed my undergraduate career at the University of California, San Diego. Following this, I worked as a remote scribe at Augmedix, Inc. utilizing Google Glass technology to document encounters for physicians in real time. I was then accepted to Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University where I am currently an M3 student. As a future physician, through dermatology, I wish to empower patients through skin education so they can feel in control of their health and specifically the prevention and treatment of their diseases. I also wish to add to the growing field of dermatology through research. In my free time, I enjoy playing basketball, both recreationally and in competitive adult leagues. I also have an interest in board games such as Settlers of Catan and Codenames, and in cooking fusion foods such as pizza burgers and Korean bulgogi burritos.

Dr. Raja Sivamani is a board-certified dermatologist and practices as an integrative dermatologist at Pacific Skin Institute. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Dermatology at the University of California, Davis and Director of Clinical Research and the Clinical Trials Unit.He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the California State University, Sacramento and an Associate Professor of Dermatology at California Northstate University, College of Medicine.He engages in clinical practice as well as both clinical and translational research that integrates bioengineering, nutrition, cosmetics, and skin biology. With training in both Allopathic and Ayurvedic medicine, he takes an integrative approach to his patients and in his research.He has published over 100 peer-reviewed research manuscripts, 10 textbook chapters, and a textbook entitled Cosmeceuticals and Active Cosmetics, 3rd Edition with a passion for expanding the evidence and boundaries of integrative medicine for skin care.