Irwin Mark Freedberg (born c. 1933,

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

; died July 17, 2005, New York City) was an American dermatologist. He taught dermatology at Harvard Medical School, was Director of the Department of Dermatology at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, was the first chief of dermatology at Beth Israel Hospital, and was the George Miller MacKee Professor and Chairman of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of

Dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...

at the

New York University Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and m ...

. He studied the

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

keratin Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up scales, hair, nails, feathers, ho ...

(the main component of hair, nails, and skin) and

keratinocytes Keratinocytes are the primary type of cell found in the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. In humans, they constitute 90% of epidermal skin cells. Basal cells in the basal layer (''stratum basale'') of the skin are sometimes referred ...

(the most common cells in the

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

Biography

He received his undergraduate degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

and earned his medical degree at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1956, and performed his dermatology residency at the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

from 1959 to 1962. He then taught at Harvard from 1962 to 1977, eventually as a professor of dermatology."Irwin Freedberg, 74, Dermatologist and Professor, Is Dead"
''The New York Times'' He moved to Johns Hopkins University, where he was director of the Department of Dermatology until 1981. He was the first chief of dermatology at Beth Israel Hospital. Subsequently, he was the George Miller MacKee Professor and Chairman of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of

at the

, New York, from 1981 through 2005. Freedberg studied the

(the main component of hair, nails, and skin) and

(the most common cells in the

). He was the former editor in chief of ''The Journal of Investigative Dermatology''. He also was a co-editor for a number of editions of ''Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine''; In 1995, he was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

' Institute of Medicine. Freedberg was named president of the American Dermatologic Association in 1997. He was a former president of the Association of Professors of Dermatology and of the

American Board of Dermatology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He died from a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

at the age of 74 in New York City on July 17th, 2005.

References

1931 births 2005 deaths People from Brookline, Massachusetts Harvard Medical School alumni Dartmouth College alumni American dermatologists Harvard Medical School faculty New York University Grossman School of Medicine faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Members of the National Academy of Medicine {{US-physician-stub