Alan Menter, MD, was a speaker at the 2018 SCALE meeting. This year he returns to speak at SCALE 2019 Music City. And we could not be more thrilled to have him.

Dr. Menter is another one of our international faculty. He was born in England and went to medical school and did his residency in South Africa, a fellowship in London, and other work in Utah and Dallas. He is an academically acclaimed dermatologist with just shy of 400 publications in his name – including 20 book chapters and 4 books. Most of us never accomplish half of that in an entire lifetime and thus we are awed by him. On top of that, he is one of the world’s leading experts on psoriasis.

As noted on the Texas Dermatology Associates website,
Dr. Menter has a long-held interest in psoriasis and psoriatic disease research. In 1994, he co-authored the first gene discovery for psoriasis, published in Science in 1994. His research on psoriasis has examined everything from ultraviolet phototherapy, biologic therapy to the mapping of genetic patterns to predict if a person is at risk of developing psoriasis. In August 2004, Dr. Menter helped found the International Psoriasis Council to raise international awareness of psoriasis as a serious autoimmune disease that can significantly impact quality of life. His clinical practice includes more than 1,600 patients on systemic and biologic therapy and phototherapy…

He serves as a member of the editorial board for several medical journals, including the Journal of Clinical Dermatology and Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. He is chair of research for Dermatology at Baylor Research Institute, Principle Faculty at Texas A&M University Health Science Center, as well as clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas… Dr. Menter has been listed in the Best Doctors in America since 1994 and Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare since 1996. He also represented the South African National Rugby team, the Springboks, in 1968. In 2013, Dr. Menter received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Psoriasis Foundation. In March 2015, he received the Dermatology Foundation annual Clark W. Finnerud award at the AAD meeting in San Francisco.

We asked him a few questions to get to know him better. Here are his answers.

Q: What motivated you to go into your field?

A: I have long held a specific interest in psoriasis and associated immune-mediated diseases, and have a family history of psoriasis that drove me to explore and study the disease.

Q: What is your favorite thing about your work?

A: Fascinating aspects regarding twelve comorbidities associated with psoriasis and my ability to work with colleagues, e.g. Dermatologists, Rheumatologist and Cardiologists.

Q: Is there a particularly compelling success story that you can share with us?

A: Initiation of International Psoriasis Council (I.P.C.) sixteen years ago, an organization which has grown to be the major player in the psoriasis world.

Q: What do you want the general public to know about what you do?

A: I spend a significant percentage of my time in both treating patients and research in psoriasis. In addition, I co-chair the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) new 2019 guidelines in psoriasis, which I will be talking about at the SCALE meeting in Nashville in May.

Q: How do you relax, what are your hobbies?

A: I love reading and I spend a lot of time traveling worldwide, which even though it is for work, is highly enjoyable to me. It helps me with my wine tasting hobby. I also love sports, in particular watching English Soccer and Rugby matches.

Q: Looking back over the course of your career, what advice do you wish someone would have given you?

A: Wish that my professor of Dermatology in my Residency had better explained the systemic nature of psoriasis.

Q: Is there a particular case you wish would walk through your door?

A: I want everyone with severe Palmar-Plantar Psoriasis – the most difficult of all forms of psoriasis to treat – to come to me. I can help.

Q: As a doctor we know people are always asking your advice; what is the most bizarre question you ever received? What was your advice?

A: I have patients ask “Can you treat my severe psoriasis affecting 50% of my body with topical creams?” I explain to them the systemic nature of psoriasis and need for systemic/biologic treatment that creams alone cannot accomplish.

Q: When people come to the SCALE workshop or talk you are giving, what do you hope they take away from their time with you?

A: I look forward to helping many people fully understand the systemic nature of psoriasis and all its comorbidities.

Q: Looking into the future of your practice, what do you predict will be the trends and technology that emerge in the next 5 to 10 years? What are you and your practice doing to get ready for those?

A: Our ability to use biomarkers to choose the correct drug for each individual patient, plus our ability to learn when a psoriasis patient is in remission so we can discontinue therapy for up to six months to one year.

Q: Is there anything else you want people to know about you or your practice?

A: Not really, except for the understanding of psoriasis as a systemic immune-mediated disease with twelve comorbidities.