Jean Bolognia Delivers the 2013 Howard Fox Memorial Lecture

Jean L. Bolognia, MD, Professor of Dermatology, Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs, and Director of the Pigmented Lesion Clinic at Yale University School of Medicine, delivered the 2013 Howard Fox Memorial Lecture on April 26, 2013 at NYAM. The subject of her lecture, which was sponsored by the NYAM Section on Dermatology, was Signature Nevi. Patients who have an increased number of moles tend to be consistent in the type of mole they produce, and the repetitive type for a given patient is that patient’s signature nevus. Patients with numerous melanocytic nevi, i.e., those who are moley, often produce a particular type of nevus, a so-called signature nevus.

Examples of the various types of signature nevi include solid brown, solid pink (especially in skin type I individuals), black with thin brown rim (representing junctional and compound lentiginous nevi), cockarde, and even multiple halo nevi; the latter are seen most commonly in teenagers and young adults who have an increased number of truncal nevi. Another type of signature nevus is the “eclipse nevus” which is characterized by a tan center and brown rim. The brown rim may be irregular in outline, even stellate, hence the name eclipse. This type of nevus is commonly seen on the scalp of children who are destined by hereditary factors to become moley.

Among her comments, Dr. Bolognia said that recognition of an individual’s signature nevus and its clinical spectrum allows the dermatologist to focus on those nevi that do not fit the “pattern” and thereby become less overwhelmed by the sheer number of nevi in a particular patient.

Dr. Bolognia has served as President of the Medical Dermatology Society and the Women’s Dermatologic Society in addition to serving as Vice President of the Society of Investigative Dermatology, the International Society of Dermatology, and the American Dermatological Association. She has also been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology, the International League of Dermatological Societies, and the American Board of Dermatology. In the latter organization, she is currently the Vice President. Dr. Bolognia  is the senior editor of the textbook Dermatology (three editions, three languages). In addition to currently serving on the FDA's Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee, she is the founder of the Clinical Scholars program of the Society of Investigative Dermatology and author of over 190 articles and book chapters.