Jon M. Hanifin, M.D.

Curriculum Vita

Dr. Jon Hanifin is Professor, Department of Dermatology, Oregon Health Sciences University, and holds a clinical appointment at Oregon Health Health Sciences University Dermatology Clinic. Dr. Hanifin indicates that 500f his time is spent in academic pursuits, and 50 0s spent in clinical practice.


Dr. Hanifin received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1965, and took his residency training in dermatology at UC San Francisco Medical Center (1966-1969). He is the author of 37 book chapters and 161 medical journal publications.

Dr. Hanifin's activities with the Academy include: Chair, Atopic Dermatitis Task Force (1976); Task Force on Infectious Diseases (1978); Editorial Board, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (1985-88); Chair, NIAID Liaison Task Force (1986); Committee on Research Activity (1986); Planning and Development Committee for Joint Educational Program of the AAD/AAAAI (1996); Faculty of Annual Meeting (1974-present).

Other dermatologic activities include: Member (1972-present) and President (1984-85), Oregon Dermatological Society; Member, Pacific Northwest Dermatology Society (1973-present); Member, Pacific Dermatological Association (1973-present); Member (1992) and Chair (1997), Nelson Paul Anderson Essay Committee; Member, Society for Investigative Dermatology (1970-present), Board of Directors (1988-92), Vice President (1995-96), Member (1992) and Chair (1994), Honorary Membership Committee, Member (1989-92) and Chair (1992), Finance Committee; Member, American Dermatological Association (1982-present); American Skin Association; State Vice Chair (1997), Dermatology Foundation - Leaders Society; Member, American Dermatological Society for Allergy and Immunology.

Dr. Hanifin served as Major, U.S. Army Medical Corps, Chief of Dermatology, U.S. Army Hospital, Camp Zama, Japan (1969-71); Honorary Member, Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology; Honorary Member, Japanese Dermatological Association; honored as Dohi Memorial Lecturer in 1994. Dr. Hanifin was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He is a Fellow, American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology; and a member of the following organizations: American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Federation for Clinical Research; American Medical Association; Medical Society of Metropolitan Portland; Skin Pharmacology Society; Best Doctors in America, 1992; Who's Who in America, 1996; First Dermatitis Research Award, American Skin Association (1993); Medical Advisory Board, National Psoriasis Foundation; Board of Trustees, National Psoriasis Foundation; Dermatologic Allergy Committee, NIAID Task Force on Asthma and Allergic Diseases (1977); NIAMDD Committee on Research Needs and Priorities; NIH Study Section, General Medicine A (1986-1990); (1993-95); Board of Directors, Eczema Association for Science and Education, serving as First President; Board of Directors, Cutaneous Biology Foundation. Dr. Hanifin has served on editorial boards including: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, Dermatologic Therapy.

Candidates Statement

I am pleased to have been nominated to the Board of Directors of the AAD. I am pursuing that candidacy because I can bring a broad perspective to the Board and I am a pragmatist with a focus on practical results. My career has been balanced with a blend of clinical practice, military dermatology, clinical and laboratory research and academic education. I have also had a long affiliation with patient advocacy groups, serving for many years on the board of the National Psoriasis Foundation and more recently helping to develop the fledgling National Eczema Association. The onrushing train of health care reform has made our alliance with patients and patient support organizations a crucial part of an ever-broadening mission. Living and practicing in Oregon, we have experienced the massive penetration of managed care and we have begun to see the weaknesses of the beast. We need to help patients help themselves, not only through our direct care, but also by increasing public education and helping shape legislation that protects them, and us, from managed care abuses. The AAD has been remarkably effective in these varied arenas and we are at a juncture where we can become even more effective, through creativity and building on experience. I think my range of experience can help the Board.

There are many issues facing the Academy but the overriding issue is the erosion of medical principles and standards of quality by publicly traded health care corporations whose responsibility is not to patients but to corporate stockholders. They can, and will continue to, justify this by citing that holy grail of the "bottom line". They are driving a wedge between us and our patients through the use of primary care practitioners, nursing assistants and even alternative medicine practitioners, an approach that delivers neither efficiency nor quality. The present corporate-driven chaos in our profession leaves in its wake a spectacularly unattractive tangle of controversial secondary issues such as educating generalists, limiting specialist manpower and rationing of techniques, therapies and consultations. These concerns demand thought and dialogue and the AAD is the proper forum.

Another major issue is the perception of our specialty in the public eye. It is an ironic paradox that we are balanced by widely disparate images. At one end, we're in the vanguard of really outstanding basic and clinical research advances that will greatly enhance our therapeutic abilities in the coming years. At the other extreme, we are increasingly viewed as purveyors of cosmetic procedures and potions. There is fertile ground for conflict in these extremes and we need to seek cohesiveness through the AAD. We should let the public know that we are proud of all our accomplishments, that Dermatology is bringing them the best of new techniques and therapies and that our research investment is really helping.

How do we address these issues? Put from a business standpoint, we need to have an attractive product, we need to keep costs down and we need to market our skills. The attractive product depends on research and education. We have ever more powerful tools and enormous research opportunities but there is an increasing shortage of clinician researchers. Dermatologists clamor for new techniques and products. The AAD should channel more resources into encouraging dermatologic research both by industry and by the federal government. Education fuels the technology transfer from the research realm into the clinic and education has always been "job one" for the AAD. It is important to preserve this tradition in order to make our specialty and our services, as attractive as possible to the public. Cost control is crucial to our success and the AAD should foster creative solutions, considering all cost centers (including pharmaceuticals, teledermatology, and nursing assistants, as well as physicians) in advising its members on cost effective practices. Marketing is an area in which the AAD has made laudatory advances in the past few years. We must build on our new-found expertise in this realm to increasingly nurture alliances with our patients through public education and advocacy, then to extend this partnership to other allies, including state and national legislators who are becoming alarmed about the excesses of managed care corporations. After several dark years, there are some points of light appearing. With strong and creative leadership, the AAD will be well-positioned to gain significant advantages in the coming years.

Response to the Nominating Committee

Undermining of Medical Professionalism. Physicians have been caught up in a tide of economics-driven forces which threaten their alliance with patients and the professionalism that ensures optimal care. The AAD should work with other organizations from all medical disciplines to thwart the intrusion of publicly traded companies that must put stockholder's gains ahead of patient's best interests. We must be the patients' advocates, not only in the clinic setting, but also in the public forum. If market forces indicate the need for fewer dermatologists, the Academy should take a leadership role in fostering debate and discussion aimed at correcting manpower excesses. We need to preserve our professional image and enhance it by increasing efforts in public education, support of patient advocacy groups and transitioning research findings into technical advances which further our management of patients.

Diversion from Expertise. We dermatologists are the most proficient group of physicians caring for skin disease and our skills have never been greater. We are culled from the "best and brightest" of medical school classes. We are well-trained, astute and we see patients efficiently and effectively. Yet we are increasingly undervalued by corporate health care systems which attempt to divert patients to inexpert care. The AAD should increasingly take our case to the public and encourage popular insistence on expert care.