Dr. Joseph F. Merola is the Chair of Dermatology at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas; he is a Professor of Dermatology, Professor of Medicine and Rheumatology, and Professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr School of Public Health. He holds the Mary Kay Distinguished Chair in Dermatology. Dr. Merola is board-certified in Dermatology, Internal Medicine, and Rheumatology.

Before taking his Chair position in 2023, Dr. Merola was a Vice Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology and Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He served as the Vice Chair for Clinical Trials and Innovation, the Founding Director of the Clinical Unit for Research Innovation and Trials (CUReIT), the Director of the Center for Skin and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases, and the Associate Program Director for the Harvard Combined Internal Medicine-Dermatology Residency Training Program at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Dr. Merola earned his medical degree at the New York University School of Medicine and his Master of Medical Sciences degree at Harvard Medical School. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, followed by a residency in Dermatology at the New York University Medical Center, where he was chief resident. He continued with a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Rheumatology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Merola was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), is the Founding President of the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Clinics Multicenter Advancement Network Consortium (PPACMAN), is on the Scientific and Medical Boards of the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF), Board of the International Dermatology Outcome Measures Group and president-elect of Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA), the Board of the American Skin Association, on the Medical and Scientific Board of the Lupus Foundation of America. He is also the recent past president of the Medical Dermatology Society and is president-elect of the Rheumatology-Dermatology Society. He is a Councilor for the International Eczema Council (IEC) and the International Psoriasis Council (IPC). He has served on multiple committees, including the AAD Guidelines Committee.

He was named one of Boston’s Top Doctors every year for nearly a decade. He is an international expert in inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, namely Psoriasis/Psoriatic Arthritis and Connective Tissue Disease, including Lupus and Dermatomyositis.

Dr. Merola has published over 340 peer-reviewed publications and received numerous awards, including the NPF’s Outstanding Educator Award, the Winter Clinical Educator of the Year Award, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Distinguished Clinician Award, the Mass General Brigham Pillar Award in Research Leadership, among many other research, mentorship, and leadership awards. He will be honored in 2024 at the NPF’s Commit to a Cure Gala in Dallas, TX.