William Damsky, MD, PhD

William Damsky, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician-scientist who uses basic and translational approaches to understand mechanisms of skin disease. In clinical practice, he specializes in medical dermatology and dermatopathology with a specific focus in cutaneous granulomatous disorders (sarcoidosis and granuloma annulare). Dr. Damsky is an attending physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Yale Health Center, the VA Veteran's Hospital, and Cornell Scott Hill Health Center. Dr. Damsky provides care for both adult and pediatric patients.

Dr. Damsky provides care for patients with all dermatologic conditions and he has special interest in:

• sarcoidosis
• granuloma annulare
• psoriasis
• atopic dermatitis (eczema)
• acne and hidradenitis suppurativa
• other cutaneous granulomatous disorders such as necrobiosis lipodica
• other inflammatory skin disorders such as lichen planus
• skin cancer

Dr. Damsky uses a wide variety of treatment modalities including retinoids including isotretinoin, phototherapy, systemic immunomodulatory agents, "biologic" agents to treat psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and other disorders, and Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors.

In his research, Dr. Damsky is using various pre-clinical and translational approaches to study inflammatory skin diseases as well as melanoma. Dr. Damsky is leading a clinical trial in sarcoidosis and granuloma annulare. Dr. Damsky has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles. His research is supported by the Dermatology Foundation, the Skin Cancer Foundation, and Pfizer. He was received the Young Investigator Award from the American Academy of Dermatology in 2020 for his research in sarcoidosis.

Dr. Damsky completed his undergraduate, M.D., and Ph.D. degrees the University of Vermont. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine and residency in Dermatology at Yale. Dr. Damsky also completed an N.I.H. funded Research Fellowship in Investigative Dermatology and served as Chief Resident during this time.