Fisher Lectureship Award
The Alexander Fisher Lectureship is awarded in honor of Alexander Fisher, MD honoring his contributions to the field of contact dermatitis. The lecturer is selected based on his or her contributions to contact dermatitis, reflection of the spirit of Dr. Fisher's enthusiasm for the subject of contact dermatitis, and for sharing knowledge and experience in evaluating patients.
2023 Fisher Lecturer - Georg Stingl, MD
Contact Dermatitis – The Crossroad of Innate and Adaptive Immunity
Georg Stingl, MD, is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Dr. Stingl earned his MD from the University of Vienna Medical School in 1973. After his internship and residency training at the Department of Dermatology I of Vienna’s University Medical School, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Dermatology Branch of the National Cancer Institute (1977 - 1978) and as a guest scientist at the Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (1985-1986) of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. From 1978-1981 he served as faculty member of the Department of Dermatology of Innsbruck’s University Medical School and then moved to Vienna where he ultimately became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Medical University.
Dr. Stingl’s major scientific accomplishments include the discovery of Langerhans cells as immunocytes and their role as targets of physicochemical agents, drugs and HIV; the first identification of the indigenous T-cell population of rodent skin; the detection of anti-FcɛR1 autoantibodies in the sera of patients with chronic urticaria; the use of genetically modified melanoma cells as vaccines for patients with far advanced disease; the induction of lytic molecules on dendritic cells after stimulation with TLR 7/8 ligands, and the phenotypic characterization of innate lymphoid cells in normal and diseased human skin. In addition, he conducted many clinical trials investigating safety and efficacy of different immunomodulatory compounds. His work is documented in more than 300 original publications, 200 reviews and book chapters as well as four books.
Over the years, Dr. Stingl has appeared as guest professor at several medical universities and as invited speaker at many symposia and conferences. He is a member of the board of several scientific societies and organizations, advisory panels, scientific journals and committees. During his career he has received several prestigious awards such as the Wiliam Montagna Award and the Stephen Rothman Award of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Skin Association. In 1999, he received the Honorary Doctorate from the Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest and the Silver Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in Vienna. He is Honorary Member of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, the European Society for Dermatological Research and the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. He is also Member of the Austrian and the German Academy of Sciences as well as Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Medicine.