Diseases of Blood and Skin: A Dermatologic Correlation of Hematologic Disorders

Dr. Robert Gniadecki received his MD degree from Warsaw Medical School (Poland) in 1991 and 3 years later obtained his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Health Sciences at Copenhagen University (Denmark) where he became a specialist in dermatology in 2001 (certified in Denmark and Canada). In 2010 he was appointed as a full clinical professor at the University of Copenhagen and in 2015 at the University of Alberta, Canada. Dr. Gniadecki published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and is a member of several editorial boards including the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology, Dermatology, and Frontiers in Medicine. His current scientific activities focus on genomics the experimental therapeutics of cutaneous lymphoma and autoimmune skin diseases and the clinical aspects of the biologic treatment of psoriasis. He has served as a president of the Danish Dermatological Society, treasurer of the Canadian Dermatology Foundation, and board members of the ESDR (European Societyof Dermatological Research) and ISCL (International Society of Cutaneous Lymphomas). Dr. Gniadecki has a long-standing interest in skin diseases in patients with hematological malignancies. Working in a multidisciplinary team with hematologists, oncologists, and hematopathologists, he developed the low-dose protocol of total skin irradiation for patients with cutaneous lymphomas and discovered lymphoma stem cells. He is currently a director of the multidisciplinary hematology-dermatology clinic and province-wide cutaneous lymphoma review board in Alberta (Canada). He is also an author of a chapter ＂The skin and disorders of the hematopoietic and immune systems＂ in Rook’s Textbook Of Dermatology.

Dr. Minakshi Taparia graduated from the Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai University in Mumbai, India. She subsequently completed training in clinical and laboratory hematology in Australia and a clinical and laboratory hematology fellowship in the UK. She also has specialized training in bone marrow transplantation. She joined the Division of Hematology in 2006 and was promoted to clinical associate professor in 2016. Dr. Taparia is a member of the Erdheim-Chester Disease Alliance and Histiocytic disorders. She was a member of the Residency Training Program for Hematology. Dr. Taparia has an interest in clinical teaching, is actively involved in teaching activities and has mentored hematology fellows in the past. She is now a staff hematologist at the University of Alberta Hospital and the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. At the Cross, she works with the Bone Marrow Transplantation Clinic and in a second clinic specializing in rare diseases such as Cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCL), Langerhans cell histiocytosis and mastocytosis. Dr. Taparia has been a member on several clinical research teams running clinical trials to look at drug effectiveness in treating disorders including acute myeloid leukemia. She is co-author of several articles publishedin such journals as Cytotherapy, Leukemia Research and Clin Transplant.

Dr. Jean Deschenes is currently appointed as Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.