John Pawelek

John Pawelek, PhD is a long-time member of the research faculty in the Department of Dermatology, Yale School of Medicine. His research interests focus on leucocyte-cancer cell fusion with resultant hybrid formation as a mechanism of melanoma metastasis (see Lazova et al., 2013) He has authored nearly 200 peer-reviewed papers in the areas of skin pigmentation and melanoma metastasis and is past president of the Pan American Society for Pigment Cell Research. He has published seminal works on melanocortin-1 receptors, melanocortin action and UV light, and the enzymology of melanogenesis--including discovery of the melanogenesis enzyme dopachrome tautomerase. He has won several awards for this work, including the PASPCR Career Achievement Award, the IFPCS inaugural award of the Henry Stanley Raper Medal, and the JSPCR award of the Takeuchi Medal. He frequently lectures at scientific conferences in the US and abroad.