- 1908 — Dr. William Bathurst was appointed as the first Professor of Dermatology at the University of Arkansas. A graduate of dermatologic training in London, Paris, and Berlin, Bathurst was renowned among fellow members of the American Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the Southern Medical Society.
- 1933 — Dr. Robert Patterson succeeded Dr. Bathurst as Professor of Dermatology, following Dr. Bathurst’s death. A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1900, Patterson was a fellow of the American Medical Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology and Syphilology.
- 1946 — Dr. Ewell I. Thompson assumed leadership of the Division of Dermatology at the University of Arkansas. Prior to the establishment of the American Academy of Dermatology in 1938, education in dermatology was typically provided at an undergraduate level. Following World War II, interest and support in dermatology increased. Private practice and volunteer faculty support led to the development of a strong clinical teaching program at the University of Arkansas College of Medicine.
- 1952 — Dr. Calvin J. Dillaha, an alum of the University of Arkansas College of Medicine, returned to the University of Arkansas as a volunteer faculty member. Dr. Dillaha received dermatologic training under Dr. Steven Rothman at the University of Chicago, where Dr. Dillaha published a pivotal paper dealing with acrodermatitis enteropathica and its formal recognition as a malabsorptive disease. Dr. Dillaha continued to develop the Dermatology Division at UAMS through research, personal contributions, and professional outreach.
- 1960 — Dr. Calvin Bradford began his training as the first dermatology resident at UAMS. He graduated residency in 1963.
- 1960s — Dr. Dillaha oversaw the development of a tertiary care dermatologic unit at the Veteran’s Hospital in Little Rock. The 35-bed ward received patients from locations around Arkansas and surrounding states. Under the leadership of Dr. Dillaha, with strong clinical faculty support, the unit became one of the most active clinical dermatologic inpatient units in the United States at the time. To this day, the VA dermatology department in Little Rock is one of the most active in the nation. Dr. William P. Scarlett, a ward physician, and Sue Smith, a dermatology nurse, were also instrumental in the development of the VA dermatology program.
- 1962 — Dr. W. Mage Honeycutt, a graduate of the School of Medicine at Arkansas and a dermatologic graduate at the University of Michigan, joined Drs. Dillaha and Jansen as clinical faculty at the University of Arkansas. Drs. Dillaha, Jansen, and Mage Honeycutt published highly influential works on the first isolation of the venom from the brown recluse spider, the cause of acrodermatitis enteropathica, and the development of 5-fluorouracil as a topical chemotherapeutic agent.
- 1969 — Dr. G. Thomas Jansen succeeded Dr. Dillaha as Chair of Dermatology at UAMS. Dr. Jansen, who first joined the clinical faculty at UAMS in 1956, directly influenced the development of groundbreaking treatments in dermatology. In addition to his work with Drs. Dillaha and Mage Honeycutt, Dr. Jansen helped to develop and advocate for the use of frozen sections as a diagnostic technique, after having worked with Dr. Frederick Mohs in Wisconsin. Dr. Jansen was instrumental in bringing the Mohs procedure to Arkansas. The Mohs procedure is a microscopically controlled excision, which is commonly used to treat carcinomas and other forms of skin cancer. During the sixties and seventies, Dr. Jansen also reincorporated education and treatment of venereal disease from county departments to UAMS outpatient centers.
- 1983 — Dr. Jere Guin succeeded Dr. Jansen as Chair of UAMS Dermatology. Dr. Guin, a graduate of Northwestern University Medical School, obtained his undergraduate education at the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt University. Dr. Guin completed his residency at Baylor University while serving as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. After completion of his residency, Dr. Guin served as Chief of Dermatology at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas and as a faculty member at Indiana University before coming to UAMS. Dr. Guin’s published studies of contact dermatitis and allergy-driven reactions directed research for years to come. Dr. Guin and Dr. Jay Kincannon, a fellow clinician at UAMS, would go on to co-publish studies in the American Journal of Contact Dermatitis, Pediatric Dermatology, Clinics in Dermatology, and countless other journals.
- 1996 — Dr. Tom Horn, a dermatopathologist, became the first subspecialty-trained Chair of Dermatology at UAMS. Dr. Horn, who would later become president of the American Society of Dermatopathology, received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed his dermatology residency at the University of Maryland. Continuing his post-graduate education, he received his subspecialty training in dermatopathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Horn, like the chairs before him, expanded access to care for dermatology patients at UAMS. With the assistance of Drs. Bruce Smoller, Sandra Johnson, Jay Kincannon, and dermatology residents and faculty, a clinical trials unit was established. Large-scale trials were undertaken at the unit and drew national attention. Into the mid-2000s, Drs. Horn and Johnson received grants and national publicity from the Biomedical Research Foundation, Dermatology Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority. Their breakthrough research trials and publications serve to guide wart therapy to this day.
- 2007 — Dr. John Charles Ansel became Chair of Dermatology after Dr. Horn. A graduate of Villanova University and Hahnemann Medical School, Dr. Ansel received his dermatologic training at the University of Pennsylvania. At the forefront of medical breakthroughs, Dr. Ansel was pivotal in establishing that the skin was an active immune system; at the time, it was widely accepted that the skin was only a primary physical barrier. Dr. Ansel pursued his love of research at the National Institutes of Health prior to becoming Chair of Dermatology at UAMS. He served in this role for two years before passing away at the age of 60.
- 2009 — Dr. Cheryl Armstrong assumed Dr. Ansel’s position as chair following his death. Dr. Armstrong received her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. She attended the Oregon Health Sciences University for her residency, where she also completed a fellowship in dermatology research. An active leader at UAMS, Dr. Armstrong served on multiple committees related to graduate medical education, medical student selection, and the UAMS medical center. She also directed the UAMS dermatology residency program. Dr. Armstrong was a longtime colleague of Dr. Ansel’s, and their mutual interests reflected in her research. With NIH support, Dr. Armstrong focused on cutaneous inflammation, innate immunity, and the cutaneous neurologic system while investigating novel eczema treatments.
- 2013 — Dr. Jay Kincannon served as Interim Chair of Dermatology after Dr. Armstrong. Joining the staff of UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and the Little Rock VA in 1991, Dr. Kincannon brought a legacy of excellence and experience to the medical system. Dr. Kincannon studied zoology at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville before attending UAMS for his medical studies. He would go on to complete both a pediatric and dermatologic residency at the University of Colorado for Health Sciences. Dr. Kincannon’s clinical interests include vascular and pigmented birthmarks, laser treatment, and newborn skin disorders. Dr. Kincannon holds simultaneous board certifications by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Dermatology. Prior to becoming interim chair, Dr. Kincannon served as president of the Arkansas Dermatological Society. He remains a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, the Pediatric Dermatology Society, the Arkansas Dermatological Society, and the American Medical Association.
- 2015 — Dr. Henry K. Wong was recruited from The Ohio State University to serve as the Chair of the Department of Dermatology. His specific clinical area of expertise is in cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL), and he studied the molecular basis of abnormal gene expression in CTCL. At UAMS, he created a multidisciplinary specialty clinic to treat patients with skin lymphomas that includes translational research and clinical trials. This clinic provides comprehensive treatments to CTCL patients in Arkansas and surrounding states. The clinic is supported by translational laboratory research on skin lymphoma located in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
- 2020 — Dr. Sara Shalin, a dermatopathologist, succeeded Dr. Wong as Interim Chair of Dermatology, before becoming the permanent Chair in 2021. A graduate of the M.D./Ph.D. program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Dr. Shalin received her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2006 and her medical degree in 2007. She completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Baylor College of Medicine and her fellowship at the Harvard Hospitals Combined Dermatopathology Program in Boston. Dr. Shalin joined UAMS in 2012 as a faculty member in the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology. Since 2017, she has served as the director of the UAMS M.D./Ph.D. combined degree program. She is involved in collaborative research in melanoma pathogenesis and biology. Her other research interests include the pathology of inflammatory diseases of the skin and other cutaneous malignancies. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, one of the leading journals in her subspecialty.