ProfessorPablo Fernandez Penas

Pablo Fernández-Peñas is Professor in Dermatology at Sydney Medical School (The University of Sydney), and Senior Medical Practitioner (Academic) at Westmead Hospital. He was appointed Head of the Department of Dermatology at Westmead Hospital in 2010, and Director of the Centre for Translational Skin Research in 2017. At the Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia, he has been the Head of Education (2011-15) and Head of Research (2008-2018).

Pablo is an MD (1989) and PhD (2000) of the Universidad Autonoma of Madrid, Spain. Previously a Staff Specialist (Dermatology) at Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (Madrid, Spain, 1995-2007) and a Clinical and Honorary Professor at the Universidad Autonoma (Madrid, Spain, 1991-2007), he moved to Sydney in 2007 to pursue his academic career.

He has received further training in Bioethics (1997), Informed Consent (1997), and Protection of Human Research Subject (2005); in Management of Clinical Units (2000), Management of Clinical Processes (2006), and Clinical Leadership (2007-8), and he is University Expert on Advanced Methods in Applied Statistics (2005-6).

He has been a Board Member of the Spanish (1998-2006) and the European (2003-2009) Academies of Dermatology and Venereology. He was funding member and first convenor of the Spanish Dermatology Research Working Group (2006-7). He is memberof the Spanish Committee for the standard EU 60335-2-27, AENOR-CENELEC since 2004.

Since moving to Sydney in 2007, he has participated in the development of the Department of Dermatology at Westmead Hospital, focusing on providing high-quality dermatology care to public patients in Western Sydney. He was appointed Head of the Department in 2010, opened the Dermatology Comprehensive Clinical Centre in 2010 and the Dermatology Research and Clinical Trials Unit in 2012, both at Westmead Hospital, and the Centre for Translational Skin Research in 2017.

To progress studies in Oncodermatology, he built strong links with the Westmead Cancer Care Centre and the Skin and Cancer Foundation Australia (The Skin Hospital), opened the first Cutaneous Lymphoma Clinic and cutaneous Graft versus Host Disease Clinics in NSW, and he is participating in melanoma, cutaneous lymphoma, basal cell carcinoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, and actinic keratosis clinical trials. He is conducting clinical studies in Oncodermatology, primarily on the Cutaneous Side Effects of oncological medications, as well as on Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Melanoma.

His PhD was on adhesion and motility of keratinocytes (J Invest Dermatol 111: 19-24; 1998; J Invest Dermatol 114: 1126-1135; 2000). His thesis was awarded the Extraordinary Prize of the School of Medicine (Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, Spain) and the Doctorate Prize of the Royal National Academy of Medicine (Spain).

He has worked in cellular photobiology, focusing on melanocytes and dendritic cells (J Invest Dermatol 125:334-42; 2005). He has studied the potential photoprotective effects of several molecules in vitro using keratinocytes, melanocytes, and dendritic cells, in collaboration with industry (Exp Dermatol 16:823-829; 2007). His interest in photobiology led him to join the Spanish Committee for the EU 60335-2-27 standard (Safety of household and similar electrical appliances: Particular requirements for appliances for skin exposure to ultraviolet and infrared radiation) in 2004, and was selected the Spanish representative in the Maintenance Team of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC/TC61/MT16) for this standard (IEC 60335-2-27) in the same year. During 2006-8, he was the convenor of the CENELEC/TC61 Ad Hoc Working Group on EN 60335-2-27, which adapted the EU 60335-2-27 to the recommendations of the EU Scientific Committee (Actas Dermosifiliogr. 2008;99:429-30).

Prof Pablo Fernandez-Peñas' interest in Graft-versus-Host Disease (GVHD) commenced in 1995. He has published several original papers describing clinical findings of Acute GVHD, Lichenoid chronic GVHD, and Sclerodermatoid chronic GVHD (Arch Dermatol 138: 924-934; 2002), and the role of rituximab (Bone Marrow Transplant 47:737-8; 2012) in treating chronic cutaneous GVHD. He has also published a review of the condition (Australas J Dermatol 51: 1-10; 2010) and the therapy (Am J Clin Dermatol 5: 403-416; 2004), including phototherapy (Australas J Dermatol 56:93-9, 2015), as well as a few case reports and case series. Prof Pablo Fernandez-Peñas has been invited to give lectures on GVHD in national and international meetings.

In 2005, he visited the Department of Dermatology at Harvard University (Boston, USA) and participated in several research studies on Merkel Cell Carcinoma (Arch Dermatol 142: 685-690; 2006, J Am Acad Dermatol 2008; 58: 375-381; J Invest Dermatol. 2009; 129(6): 1547-55).

Another research interest of Prof Pablo Fernandez-Peñas is Quality of Life in Dermatology. Since 1998 (Int J Dermatol 39: 907-912; 2000), he has been working on the impact of dermatologic conditions such as psoriasis, acne and skin cancer on patients' quality of life (Australas J Dermatol 56:70-6, 2015). This is an active research line in his department.

Since he moved to Sydney in 2007, Pablo has focused on Oncodermatology. He is participating in clinical trials for melanoma, cutaneous lymphoma, basal cell carcinoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, and actinic keratosis. He has established an Oncodermatology Tissue Bank and Immunohistochemistry and Proteomic platforms. Recent publications include a number of papers on the cutaneous side effects of new treatments for metastatic melanoma (Lancet Oncol 14:e11-8;2013; JAMA dermatology 151:1103-9, 2015; J Am Acad Dermatol 72:809-15 e1, 2015), its mechanisms (Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 25:569-72;2012; Exp Dermatol 25:394-5, 2016) and management (J Clin Oncol 30:e165-7;2012; Actas Dermosifiliogr 108:6-16, 2017). He has also explored other areas of oncodermatology, including Mohs surgery, photodynamic therapy, and the use of nicotinamide for skin cancer prevention (N Engl J Med 373:1618-26, 2015). His team is also interested in human behaviour related to skin cancer (Eur J Dermatol 24:85-93, 2014; J Cancer Educ, 2016). He has been invited to give lectures at national and international meetings.

He has 187 publications (h: 33, 4534 citations [Google Scholar]), participated in research projects with total grant funding of $14.5M, and has participated in 60+ clinical trials in oncodermatology [metastatic melanoma (BRAF and MEK inhibitors, anti PD1 molecules), basal cell carcinoma (heghehog inhibitor), squamous cell carcinoma (nicotinamide), actinic keratosis (photodynamic therapy, ingenol mebutate)] and inflammatory cutaneous diseases (psoriasis, hidradenitis, pyoderma gangrenosum).

(Last update in Feb 2019)