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 2021 Founders’ Award Recipient

Klaus J. Busam, MD
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Director of ‎Dermatopathology, Dept of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. ‎

Dr. Busam’s investigative work is largely focused on improvements in the diagnostic accuracy ‎and prognosis of melanocytic tumors through clinicopathologic correlations and the use of ancillary ‎methods, including immunohistochemistry, cytogenetics, and sequence analysis. He leads the ‎pathology core of the NIH-funded InterMel international melanoma research consortium and is a ‎member of the international GEM (genes, environment and melanoma) study group.

‎Important contributions to Dermatopathology include the concept of pure versus mixed ‎desmoplastic melanoma along with the observation that regional lymph node metastases are ‎significantly less common in patients with pure tumors. He was also instrumental in the discovery that ‎desmoplastic melanomas frequently harbor NF1 mutations. Collaborative efforts helped characterize ‎Spitz tumors and he pointed out various diagnostic pitfalls, such as metastatic melanoma simulating ‎the appearance of a blue nevus. Recent work of his team has paved the way for immunohistochemical ‎testing of PRAME expression as a new tool to aid in the distinction of nevi from melanoma. Relevant ‎novel findings outside of melanocyte pathology include the observation that the Merkel cell ‎polyomavirus is absent in combined squamous and neuroendocrine carcinomas of the skin, and the ‎first description of the acneiform rash associated with EGF-R inhibitor therapy.

‎Dr. Busam has more than 400 publications in journals. He has edited, co-edited or contributed ‎chapters to leading textbooks in melanocyte tumor pathology, general Dermatopathology, and the ‎WHO skin tumor book. He serves on the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) expert ‎committee for melanoma and chairs the expert committee for Merkel cell carcinoma. ‎

Past Recipients of the Founders' Award

2020	Joan Guitart, MD
2019	Philip H. McKee, MD, FRCPath
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