NPF Honors Extraordinary Medical Professionals

Alexandria, Virginia – March 17, 2023

The National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) proudly recognizes the dedication and impact of Kelly M. Cordoro, M.D., Boni E. Elewski, M.D., Samuel T. Hwang, M.D., Ph.D., Jason D. Oberdick, PA-C, and Soumya M. Reddy, M.D., as medical professionals doing exceptional work to improve the lives of those living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

These individuals represent the wide range of professionals who contribute to the advancement of the care, treatment, clinical research, and medical education needed to effectively manage and treat psoriatic disease. They join NPF in the mission to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve the lives of all those affected.

“In their own unique way, each of these medical professionals has contributed to better health outcomes for the more than 8 million people in the U.S. living with psoriatic disease,” said Leah M. Howard, J.D., the President and CEO of NPF. “On behalf of this community, I offer our highest levels of appreciation and gratitude for the work of these remarkable professionals.”

Award recipients were nominated by people with psoriatic disease, colleagues, and NPF team members and were selected by a committee of past winners and NPF Medical Board members.

NPF Medical Professional Award winners are recognized at the annual conference of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). 2023 winners will be honored on March 17, 2023, at AAD in New Orleans.

Outstanding Physician/Clinician (Dermatology)

This award recognizes a physician for outstanding achievements in improving psoriatic disease clinical practice and playing a major or lasting role with national impact in improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The winner of this award is actively involved in the clinical care of patients with psoriatic disease and has an outstanding track record of sharing their expertise with other health care professionals as documented by presentations and/or authorship of books, articles, and reference materials.

Kelly M. Cordoro, M.D.

Professor of Dermatology and Pediatrics
University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Kelly Marie Cordoro is the Division Chief of Pediatric Dermatology, the Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Director, and the McCalmont Family Endowed Professor in Pediatric Dermatology at UCSF. Dr. Cordoro’s clinical focus is complex medical dermatology, particularly inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases, in children. Her primary clinical and research interest is pediatric psoriasis.

Dr. Cordoro formerly received a competitive 3-year Career Development Award from the Dermatology Foundation to study psoriasis in children. She continued that work as a founding member of the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance (PeDRA) and as the Co-Chair of PeDRA’s Psoriasis Investigator Group. She is the co-founder of the UCSF Pediatric Rheumatology/Dermatology Clinic, where she serves patients as a clinician, advocate, educator, and researcher.

Dr. Cordoro is on the NPF Medical Board and is a Councilor for the International Psoriasis Council. She is a passionate educator who has won several teaching awards. Most recently, she received the UCSF School of Medicine Class of 2022 Sir William Osler Distinguished Teacher Award. She is a skilled clinician and committed mentor who strives to advance the health and overall well-being of children with psoriasis and other skin diseases through compassionate clinical care and rigorous scholarship.

Outstanding Educator in Psoriatic Disease

This award honors highly meritorious efforts by health professionals in the field of psoriatic disease education.

Boni E. Elewski, M.D.

Professor and Chair, Director of Clinical Research
University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Dermatology

Dr. Elewski has research interests which include the diagnosis and treatment of acne, alopecia, atopic dermatitis, cutaneous fungal infections, hidradenitis suppurativa, nail disease, psoriasis, and rosacea.

She has been the principal investigator of numerous clinical research projects, including many industry-sponsored or investigator-initiated clinical trials. Dr. Elewski is a world-renowned expert dermatologist and teacher. She has had outstanding success in recruiting psoriasis patients for numerous clinical trials.

Health Professional Volunteer of the Year

This award recognizes a health care professional who has promoted NPF’s mission of improving the lives of people with psoriatic disease through exceptional contributions to the key initiatives of NPF. The winner has been actively involved in NPF at the affiliate, local, or national level within the last five years and has a history of contributions to NPF goals and objectives.

Samuel T. Hwang, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor and Chair of Dermatology
University of California, Davis

Dr. Samuel T. Hwang is a board-certified dermatologist with extensive training as a physician-scientist. He has a strong clinical and basic science interest in immunological diseases of the skin, including psoriasis, and in the biology of skin cancers, including melanoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Starting as an Investigator and then Senior Investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Hwang has had over 15 years of experience in the field of leukocyte and cancer cell trafficking and has had a long-standing interest in the role of chemokine receptors, including CCR6 and CXCR4 in immune cells as well as cancer cells.

In 2008 he was appointed the Thomas J. Russell Family and Community Dermatologists Chair and Professor of Dermatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He has published more than 65 original and review articles in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Cancer Research, Journal of Immunology, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Archives of Dermatology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA).

In 2016, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and serves as section editor for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and the Journal of Dermatological Sciences. He was elected by his peers to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2007 and has lectured internationally and nationally.

Outstanding Advanced Health Care Provider

This award recognizes an advanced provider for outstanding achievements in improving psoriatic disease clinical practice and playing a major or lasting role with national impact in improving the quality of life of patients and their families.

Jason D. Oberdick, PA-C

Certified Physician Assistant
Forefront Dermatology

Jason Oberdick is a National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants board-certified and state-licensed Physician Assistant specially trained in dermatology.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Health Science and his Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jason is a member of NPF, the American Academy of PAs, the Society of Dermatology PAs, and the Pittsburgh Academy of Dermatology.

Outstanding Physician/Clinician (Rheumatology)

Soumya M. Reddy, M.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Assistant Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Co-Director, Psoriatic Arthritis Center

At NYU, Dr. Soumya Reddy is involved in the care of patients with psoriatic disease, psoriatic arthritis clinical trial research, and teaching of rheumatology fellows, dermatology and internal medicine trainees, and medical students. She also serves as the Co-director of the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Clinic at NYU – providing multi-disciplinary care for psoriatic patients. It is one of the oldest combined clinics in the U.S.

Dr. Reddy completed medical school at Boston University as part of the Accelerated B.A./M.D. Program and then completed her internal medicine residency, chief resident year, and rheumatology fellowship at NYU.

She is on the NPF Medical Board and a member of the Arthritis Foundation Psoriatic Arthritis Expert Panel. Additionally, Dr. Reddy is the Founding Treasurer and board member of the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Clinics Multicenter Advancement Network Consortium (PPACMAN), member of Psoriatic Arthritis Research Consortium (PARC), and member of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA).

Her research interests include the evaluation and treatment of psoriatic arthritis with novel therapeutic agents and approaches as well as the benefits of multi-disciplinary care. Dr. Reddy was a member of the committee to develop the American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation guidelines for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis and served on the committee for the development of the GRAPPA treatment recommendations for psoriatic arthritis in patients with comorbidities.

Serving the community of people impacted by psoriatic disease for more than 50 years with patient support, advocacy, research, and education, the National Psoriasis Foundation is the leading nonprofit representing individuals with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The mission of NPF is to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve the lives of more than 8 million individuals in the United States affected by this chronic immune-mediated disease. As part of that effort, NPF created the Patient Navigation Center to offer personalized assistance to everyone with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. In recent years, NPF has funded more than $30 million in research grants and fellowships that help drive discoveries that may lead to more and better treatments and ultimately a cure. Learn more at psoriasis.org.