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Q&A with Joel M. Gelfand, M.D., MSCE, FAAD

2025 Commit to Cure Gala Honoree

Commit to Cure Gala: Joel Gelfand, M.D.

On June 18, 2025 the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) and the psoriatic disease community will unite in celebration of the profound contributions of Joel M. Gelfand, M.D., Carol Ostrow, and Jose U. Scher, M.D., to the mission to drive efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve the lives of all those affected.

In advance of the Commit to Cure Gala in New York City, we sat down with the honorees to learn a little about their connection to this community and their messages for people who live with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Q&A with Joel M. Gelfand, M.D., MSCE, FAAD – 2025 Commit to Cure Gala Honoree

Question: Tell us about your work with the National Psoriasis Foundation?

I've been engaging with the National Psoriasis Foundation for the past 20 years, on a variety of different initiatives. The NPF has most recently been engaged as a funder and partner in our cardiovascular disease research program. This research project is focused on lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease in people living with psoriasis by working with dermatologists across the U.S to better counsel patients, better screen for cardiovascular risk factors, and better treat those risk factors.

The NPF was also an important collaborator on an at-home phototherapy study, known as the LITE Study. The LITE Study, which enrolled 783 patients from 42 dermatology practices nationwide, demonstrated that home phototherapy is as effective as in-office treatment. Recently, a major national health insurance company changed their policy to make home phototherapy much more readily accessible to patients with psoriasis based on the positive results of LITE.

Question: How has the National Psoriasis Foundation played a role in your career?

The National Psoriasis Foundation has played a major role in my career. First, what people don't often recognize is how important it is to have their advocacy at the federal level to ensure that psoriatic diseases are being studied. My ability to study psoriasis in the U.S. population is based on the National Psoriasis Foundation's ability to advocate, which has resulted in the Centers for Disease Control collecting data on people living with psoriasis. From this data, we better defined the epidemiology and burden of psoriasis in the US, determined that there are up to 3.6 million adults in the US with psoriasis who remain undiagnosed, and we determined that patients with psoriasis rarely get screened for cardiovascular risk factors by their dermatologist – an evidence to practice gap that we are trying to address with our current research.

Question: What are you most proud of in your work with the National Psoriasis Foundation?

There really are a lot of things I’m proud of regarding the work that we do with NPF. Probably one of the most important things was back in 2006. I published the first major clinical studies demonstrating that psoriasis is associated with a higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, even premature mortality.

Some colleagues pushed back on that important work, but NPF and their community embraced and funded my work and that of other scientists in this area. Ultimately, the findings were confirmed by many investigators around the world. NPF has been a key partner in helping to educate patients about this association and helping them understand what they could do to lower their risk of cardiovascular events and mortality.

Question: What is your message for someone who is newly diagnosed with psoriasis?

There is a tremendous amount of hope for people living with psoriasis. We know so much more about this disease than we did even just 5 years ago and we have a variety of treatment options available such that most patients should be able to achieve clear skin.

Question: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

We've made a lot of progress in psoriasis – many advancements in treatment over the years, but the reality is that there's still so much more to do. The treatments developed for psoriasis don't address comorbidities like cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and diabetes. We need better therapies and approaches to lower the health burden of psoriasis.

In addition, there are still many patients who do well on one treatment but then lose response over time and cycle from one treatment to another.

Finally, too many patients suffer with the burden of this disease – often alone. They feel so stigmatized by having psoriasis. People who are a part of NPF have found community. But we have a lot of work to do to touch everyone's life who's touched by psoriasis.

About Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, FAAD

Dr. Gelfand is the tenured James J. Leyden Professor of Clinical Investigation and Professor of Dermatology and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. He is also Director and cofounder of the Center for Clinical Sciences in Dermatology, Director of the Psoriasis and Phototherapy Treatment Center, and Senior Scholar, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is an internationally recognized expert in psoriasis, clinical epidemiology, drug safety, and clinical trials. Dr. Gelfand is the author of over 330 scientific publications, editorials, reviews, and textbook chapters (cited over 42,000 times), which appear in many prestigious dermatology, rheumatology, and general medical journals including JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine. He is Deputy Editor for Clinical Research for the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, is the recipient of many esteemed national medical awards, has delivered over 10 named lectures, and has served on various boards of directors to advance the field of psoriasis care.

Dr. Gelfand’s research has redefined psoriasis, a disease affecting 125 million people worldwide, as a systemic inflammatory disease that enhances the risk of cardiovascular events and premature mortality resulting in changes in standard of care guidelines worldwide. He conducts patient centered, “real world” research through the Dermatology Clinical Effectiveness Research Network (DCERN), which he founded in 2009 and involves over 50 dermatology practices in the US. His research is regularly covered by print and television media. He is also a dedicated mentor and has trained a new generation of physician scientists in dermatology, rheumatology, and cardiology who focus on psoriatic disease.

The overarching goal of his research and clinical practice is to improve psoriasis patient outcomes in the skin and joints, while lowering the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality. He regularly appears in Castle Connolly’s list of “Top Doctors” and is listed in America’s Best Dermatologists by Newsweek Magazine.

Dr. Gelfand graduated magna cum laude and earned his medical degree from the Harvard Medical School. He completed dermatology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also received a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology.

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