Michael Girardi, FAAD

Disease Interests: Dr. Girardi specializes in the diagnosis, longitudinal management, and translational investigation of cutaneous lymphomas and related lymphoproliferative disorders. His principal clinical focus is mycosis fungoides (MF) and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), including folliculotropic MF, MF associated with follicular mucinosis, hypopigmented MF, pagetoid reticulosis (Woringer–Kolopp disease), erythrodermic MF, tumor-stage MF, MF with large-cell transformation, and Sézary syndrome. He also has expertise in primary cutaneous CD30-positive lymphoproliferative disorders, including lymphomatoid papulosis and primary cutaneous anaplastic large-cell lymphoma; primary cutaneous CD4-positive small/medium T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder; primary cutaneous aggressive epidermotropic cytotoxic CD8-positive T-cell lymphoma; primary cutaneous gamma-delta T-cell lymphoma; subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma; and cutaneous NK/T-cell lymphoma.

Dr. Girardi evaluates and treats primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas, including primary cutaneous marginal-zone B-cell lymphoma and primary cutaneous follicle-center lymphoma, as well as cutaneous lymphoid hyperplasia/lymphocytoma cutis/pseudolymphoma and parapsoriasis, including small- and large-plaque variants. As Co-Director of the Yale Cutaneous Lymphoma Group and Medical Director of Yale New Haven Hospital’s Extracorporeal Photopheresis and Phototherapy Centers, he provides multidisciplinary care across the full continuum of CTCL, from early and diagnostically challenging disease to advanced, blood-involved, transformed, and treatment-refractory disease. His clinical work includes phototherapy, extracorporeal photopheresis, systemic and targeted therapies, clinical trials, molecular diagnostics, and individualized combination-treatment strategies. His contributions also include national and international consensus work on CTCL classification, staging, clinical-trial design, response criteria, and management.

Laboratory Research: For more than 20 years, Dr. Girardi has led a highly collaborative NIH- and foundation-supported research program at Yale focused on cutaneous lymphoma, skin immunobiology, epithelial carcinogenesis, and translational therapeutic development. His laboratory has made foundational contributions to understanding how local immune populations regulate skin homeostasis, inflammation, cancer initiation, and tumor progression. The group was among the first to establish the antitumor capacity of gamma-delta T cells; delineate the coordinated but distinct roles of alpha-beta and gamma-delta T cells in cutaneous inflammation and carcinogenesis; and identify important tumor-promoting roles for Langerhans cells, interferon-producing/perforin-deficient CD8-positive T cells, and IL-22-producing, skin-resident innate lymphoid cells. The laboratory’s work has also defined mechanisms by which stress-induced NKG2D ligands reshape local immune compartments and influence tumor immunosurveillance.In cutaneous lymphoma, Dr. Girardi’s research spans disease genetics, immunobiology, molecular diagnostics, prognostic assessment, and therapeutic discovery. His group has contributed to defining the genomic landscape of CTCL, improving blood-based diagnostic assessment, developing FISH-based molecular tools for leukemic CTCL, identifying rational drug combinations, and advancing therapies targeting T-cell receptor V-beta families in T-cell malignancies. Current translational efforts include precision immunotherapy and antibody-drug-conjugate development directed at TCR-Vβ2-positive T-cell lymphomas and leukemias, as well as therapeutic nanoparticle platforms for cutaneous malignancies.Dr. Girardi is an inventor on seven issued biomedical patents, with five additional patent applications pending, related to cancer diagnosis, immunotherapy, dendritic-cell biology, skin-cancer prevention, drug delivery, and T-cell malignancy therapeutics. He is a co-founder of Yale spinout companies including Stradefy Biosciences and Artelis Biopharma, reflecting a sustained commitment to translating discoveries into clinical impact.His work has been published in Science (2), Journal of Experimental Medicine (3), Nature, Nature Immunology (4), Nature Genetics (2), Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (4), and Blood (4). His current Google Scholar record includes an h-index above 50, an i10-index above 120, and more than 13,000 citations.

Selected Recent Awards and Recognition: Dr. Girardi received the 2025 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Translational Research Program Award and the 2025 American Cancer Society BrightEdge Entrepreneur Program Award. He was a two-time recipient of the Yale Blavatnik Award in Innovation, receiving the award in 2017 and again in 2023. Additional honors include the 2020 Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation Catalyst Award, the 2018 Journal of Immunology Pillar of Immunology recognition, the 2017 Zeligman Lectureship Award in Cutaneous Lymphoma from Johns Hopkins University, the 2017 Spatz Foundation Award for Cutaneous Lymphoma, and the 2022 Evans Endowed Professorship at Yale University. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.Academic and Professional Leadership: Dr. Girardi is the Evans Professor of Dermatology and Vice Chair for Faculty Development & Scientific Innovation at Yale School of Medicine. He is the immediate past Residency Program Director for the Department of Dermatology, having held that role from 2000 through 2022, and is Co-Director of the NIH/NIAMS T32 Yale Investigative Dermatology Training Grant. He previously served as Co-Director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center Immunology and Immunotherapy Program. His national and international leadership has included service on the Research Leadership Council and Board of Trustees of Advancing Innovation in Dermatology; former Editor-in-Chief of Dialogues in Dermatology; former Associate Editor of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology; Director of the Society for Investigative Dermatology Annual Meeting; and leadership service with the United States Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium and International Society of Cutaneous Lymphoma.

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Dr. Girardi’s research programs include:

Precision diagnosis and therapy for CTCL: Dr. Girardi leads a translational research program focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Drawing on the clinical and biospecimen resources of the Yale Cutaneous Lymphoma Group, one of the largest specialized CTCL programs, his team integrates clinical phenotyping, genomic and transcriptomic sequencing, molecular cytogenetics, blood-based disease assessment, and functional drug screening to better define disease biology, improve diagnostic precision, identify prognostic markers, and accelerate therapeutic discovery. Current work includes development of FISH- and sequencing-based diagnostic strategies for CTCL, characterization of the genetic and immunologic features of malignant T-cell clones, and high-throughput screening of rational drug combinations. The laboratory is also developing targeted small molecules, precision immunotherapies, and antibody-drug conjugates for T-cell malignancies, including therapies directed against T-cell receptor V-beta subfamilies such as TCR-Vβ2. These efforts aim to create more selective, durable, and less toxic treatments for patients with advanced, blood-involved, relapsed, or treatment-refractory CTCL and related T-cell leukemias and lymphomas.

Nanotechnology for cancer therapeutics: In collaboration with W. Mark Saltzman, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Douglas Brash, PhD, Professor of Genetics, Dr. Girardi is developing biodegradable, bioadhesive nanoparticle platforms for cancer prevention and treatment. Current approaches include nanoparticle-mediated delivery of chemotherapeutics and immune-stimulatory agents, including monophosphoryl lipid A-based formulations, to enhance antitumor activity within the skin while limiting systemic exposure. These approaches are being deployed into distinct programs for melanona, non-melanoma skin cancer, and perintoneal carcinomatosis (appendiceal, colorectal, gastric, ovarian, pancreatic).

Local immunity and skin carcinogenesis: The Girardi Laboratory investigates how tissue-resident and recruited immune cells influence the initiation, evolution, and progression of cutaneous malignancies. Using genetically engineered mouse models, advanced immunobiology methods, single-cell and genomic approaches, and high-resolution confocal imaging, the group studies the roles of gamma-delta T cells, alpha-beta T cells, Langerhans cells, CD8-positive T cells, innate lymphoid cells, and stress-induced NKG2D-ligand pathways in epithelial transformation, tumor immune surveillance, mutagenesis, and inflammation-driven cancer development. These studies seek to define how local immune responses can either restrain or promote skin cancer and to identify immunologic targets for prevention and treatment.