Maria Tsoukas, PhD, MD

Since my initial appointment as Associate Professor at UIC (2014 CT- Q and 2017 CT), I have brought my expertise in clinical and specialized procedural dermatology, medical education and research. I am fully dedicated to very busy patient care, education, community service, research and administrative organization as Program Director (2014-19) and Department Head (2016-present). With a multidisciplinary approach as a clinician and educator, I have built my career tightly connected to clinically oriented research in dermatology and in collaboration with other clinical and research disciplines. My current work is a natural extension of my clinical commitment and is combined with my research and PhD thesis in photobiology, photodynamic therapy and skin optics. With advances in oncology and transplant that ensure longer patient survival, my research work contributes to better patient outcomes and life quality improvement. In particular we focus on diagnosis and management of skin cancers. I am an active participant in research derived from clinical questions in immunology and needs assessment in education (especially during the pandemic) and community service. The following active research efforts have fostered scholarly activity parallel to my clinical and teaching commitments (department norms attached), resulting in publications and lecture invitations worldwide: A. Field cancerization, high risk immunosuppressed patients and skin care in oncology patients Our team and research efforts are aiming at developing a UIC Center of Excellence in skin cancer consistent with national standards. We have studied the field cancerization defined as therapies applied as monotherapies and in combination (doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000001161 funded by ASDS Cutting edge research grant; DOI: 10.1007/s40257-018-0348-7). In addition, I have special interest in the care of the cancer patient with regards to treatment adverse reactions (Protocol #2015-0181 Omacetaxine in AML) and cutaneous manifestations of Graft Versus Host Disease. As members of an interactive GVHD Consortium meeting (monthly since 2018), we convene with UIC experts and colleagues from other institutions , analyze complicated GVHD cases, and have planned new research on skin management in chronic GVHD, that can significantly impact patient outcomes. B. Skin cancer awareness and surveillance, community service, UIH hereditary cancer board Under the auspices of UI Health Cancer Center we are structuring