Commentary

Dermatology Branch: Maria Turner

To the Editor:

The article on the “Dermatology Branch at NIH” (NIH Catalyst May–June 2019) was a fantastic summary of the clinical and research advances made by the broad and diverse staff in dermatology at NIH over the last few decades. I was surprised, however, that there was no mention of the talented clinician–scientist Maria Turner. She was recruited in 1991 by her mentor, the late Stephen Katz, to become chief of the Dermatology Consult Service. (Katz was the chief of the Dermatology Branch in the National Cancer Institute from 1980 to 2002 and director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases from 1995 until his death in 2018.)

For 20 years, Maria Turner was the “face” of the Dermatology Branch in the NIH Clinical Center. She was responsible for diagnosing and caring for the dermatologic problems of NIH protocol patients, and she collaborated with many investigators in defining the dermatologic manifestations of new and old diseases that were not primarily dermatology syndromes.

She is also a fervent educator. Her astute clinical acumen and gift for teaching have been recognized with teaching awards from the NIH (Distinguished Clinical Teacher by the NIH Clinical Fellows) as well as from the American Academy of Dermatology and the Dermatology Foundation. Since her retirement in 2009, she continues to be active in the Dermatology Branch as a scientist emeritus and a senior clinician emeritus and regularly attends Dermatology Grand Rounds and Clinical Journal Club meetings, at which she continues to teach and inspire.

PAMELA STRATTON, M.D., SPECIAL VOLUNTEER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE

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