Founders' Award

Established by The American Society of Dermatopathology in 1983 in honor of the Founding Members of the Society, this endowed award is conceived to recognize individuals who have made outstanding original and significant contributions to the field of dermatopathology.

Congratulations to the 2019 Founders’ Award Recipient

Philip H. McKee, MD, FRCPath
Consulting Dermatopathologist
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School 1998-2004

Phillip H McKee, MD, FRCPath, was born in Northern Ireland but spent his first eight years in London before returning to Belfast. He gained his bachelor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics from Queen’s University in 1971. He then trained in pathology and became a member of the Royal College of Pathologists in 1978. While practicing pathology, he also worked part time as a general practitioner, casualty officer, police surgeon and coroner’s pathologist. He became fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists in 1989 and in 1992 was awarded his doctorate in medicine by Queen’s University, Belfast. 

In 1978, he moved back to London as fellow in dermatopathology at St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin under the tutelage of Professor Edward Wilson-Jones, the late Dr. Neil P. Smith and Dr. George Wells. From 1979-1998, Dr. McKee was consultant pathologist at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. In 1992, he joined the faculty of the Institute of Dermatology, St John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, London. In 1996 He was appointed Head of Service at St Thomas’ Hospital, responsible for surgical pathology and cytopathology.

Along with Professor N. A. Wright, Dr. McKee was responsible for the development of the United Kingdom Dermatopathology Training Program and the Royal College of Pathologists’ Diploma in Dermatopathology (equivalent to the Boards in Dermatopathology).

In 1998, he was recruited to the Department of Surgical Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he was Chief of Dermatopathology until 2004. During that period, he was also Director of Dermatopathology at the Dana Farber Cancer Center, Director of the Morphology and Cell Analysis Core, Harvard Skin Disease Research Center, Harvard Medical School, and Consultant to the Children’s Hospital, Boston. He was Co-PI and Director of Pathology Core NIH Spore in Skin Cancer, Harvard Medical School in 2001.

In 2005, Dr. McKee was Visiting Professor to the Department of Pathology at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. Following this, he lived in Arizona, where he provided a pro bono International Dermatopathology Consultation Practice. He also played an active role in an online Dermatopathology teaching website, Dermpath Pro. 

In 1998 he was a European Economic Community (EEC) funded visiting Professor of Dermatopathology, at Budapest Medical School. He was a visiting Professor at The Cleveland Clinic in 2000, the Lauren V Ackerman Visiting Lecturer at Washington University of Medicine in 2001, Visiting Professor of Dermatopathology at The University of Upsala, Sweden in 2005, Visiting Professor of Dermatopathology at the National Skin Center, Singapore 2005 and the Louis A Brunsting Visiting lecturer at the Mayo Clinic in 2011. He has lectured at innumerable medical schools and pathology departments worldwide.

He was granted the American Society of Dermatopathology Elson B. Helwig Memorial award in Chicago 2003, the Neil P. Smith Medal in Dermatopathology in London 2006, and the Piet Grobler Memorial Award in Johannesburg 2014.

Research funding including Wishbone Trust British Orthopedic Association, Research and Development Directorate Department of Health (UK), Harvard Medical School Skin Disease Research Center and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Spore Grant.

He is the author of 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals and nine textbooks including McKee’s Pathology of the Skin (now in its 5th edition). He is currently senior administrator of the McKee Derm Facebook virtual dermatopathology consultation, teaching and research group (2017-present) and continues to provide a pro bono dermatopathology consultation service.

The most rewarding aspect of Dr. McKee’s career has been training residents and fellows in dermatopathology both in the United States and in numerous countries abroad. 

Dr. McKee has also enjoyed a second “career” as a motor racing enthusiast and at one time was a highly successful sponsored national and international rally co-driver winning numerous awards. He continues to enjoy high speed competitive activities.

Dr. McKee is married with four children (none of whom have followed him in dermatopathology!). His wife Grace is a renowned cytopathologist who is now immersed in a highly successful second career as an artist.

Past Recipients of the Founders' Award

2018	James W. Patterson, MD
2017	Clifton R. White, MD
2016	Christopher R. Shea, MD
2015	Lorenzo Cerroni, MD
2014	Thomas D. Horn, MD
2013	Dirk M. Elston, MD
2012	Ronald P. Rapini, MD
2011	Raymond L. Barnhill, MD
2010	Daniel J. Santa Cruz, MD
2009	Antoinette F. Hood, MD
2008	Jag Bhawan, MD
2007	Wilma F. Bergfeld, MD, FACP
2006	Ronald J. Barr, MD
2005	David D. Weedon, AO, MD, FRCPA
2004	Philip E. LeBoit, MD
2003	Ernst H. Beutner, PhD
2002	John C. Maize, MD
2001	Franz M. Enzinger, MD
2000	Waine C. Johnson, MD
1999	Loren E. Golitz, MD
1998	Martin C. Mihm, Jr., MD
1997	Edward Wilson Jones, FRCP, FRCPath
1996	John R. Haserick, MD
1995	Herbert Z. Lund, MD
1993	Richard J. Reed, MD
1992	John T. Headington, MD
1991	Robert G. Freeman, MD
1990	James H. Graham, MD
1989	A. Bernard Ackerman, MD
1988	Wallace H. Clark, Jr., MD
1987	Richard K. Winkelmann, MD
1986	Walter F. Lever, MD
1985	Elson B. Helwig, MD
1984	Hermann Pinkus, MD