Endemic pemphigus foliaceus: a model of skin autoimmunity associated with environmental triggers

Presented by: Dr. Valeria Aoka, University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine Dr. Aoki completed her Medical Degree, Residency and PhD in Dermatology at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil. She then joined the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA for a post-doctoral fellowship in Immunodermatology under Prof. Luis A. Diaz´s supervision and was awarded a Dermatology Foundation scholarship. Currently, she is an Associate Tenured Professor and the Director of the Immunodermatology Laboratory of the Department of Dermatology, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Her main research lines are autoimmune blistering diseases, with an emphasis on endemic pemphigus foliaceus in Indigenous populations and inflammatory dermatoses (atopic dermatitis). She has been a co-investigator of the Pemphigus project in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA since 1994 and was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors-International Eczema Council since 2021. She served as the regional ambassador for the Academic Health Centers International-Latin America and the Caribbean from 2019 to 2022 and is the current President of the International Relations Office at her University. She is a current member of the editorial board of the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and acts as a reviewer in prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. She published 155 complete articles and 61 abstracts in peer-reviewed journals, 22 chapters in national and international books, and is the editor of 1 book. She was invited to more than 155 lectures worldwide and mentored many national and international MD, PhD students and postdoctoral research fellows in her department.