Focusing on the boundary between psychiatry and dermatology, psychodermatologists (or “skin shrinks”) care for the skin and the soul, dovetailing traditional treatments like antibiotics or topical medications with alternative methods such as relaxation, biofeedback, self-hypnosis or psychotherapy.

As an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Oregon Health & Science University, what sparked your interest in finding a cure for vitiligo?
My field of expertise is the identification of potential new drugs from natural sources e.g plants used in traditional medicines.  I started working on finding a treatment for vitiligo while I was employed at the Pharmacy Department, Kings College London, University of London.  This arose as a result of Maxine Whitton, then Chair of the UK vitiligo society, contacting me to see if I could …

I’m including the following article today as a prelude to my next blog. Presently, I am conducting an interview with Dr. Amala Soumyanath.  She discovered that piperine, the alkaloid in black pepper responsible for its pungency, stimulated the proliferation of melanocytes in cell cultures.
04/09/08 Portland, Ore.
OHSU and AdPharma, Inc. announce collaboration to develop promising topical agent for vitiligo, a skin pigmentation disorder that afflicts as many as a 100 million people worldwide
Oregon Health & Science University has licensed a family of compounds derived from black pepper extract  on which it …