Artur Zembowicz, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Zembowicz is the Principal Consultant and Founder of DermatopathologyConsultations.com. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D degrees from Copernicus Academy of Medicince in Cracow, Poland. His research training includeded fellowship at The William Harvey Research Institute in London under direction of Sir John R. Vane, FRS, a Nobel prize winner in 1982, and at the Vascular Biology Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston directed by Kenneth K. Wu, M.D. His basic science research contributions were in the areas of vascular biology and inflammation, including regulation of endothelial gene expression, thrombosis and atherosclerosis.

Dr. Zembowicz trained in anatomic pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA and in dermatopathology at Harvard Combined Dermatopathology Fellowship (Brighman and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital). He served as a member of dermatopathology, head and neck and ophthalmic pathology services at Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He worked at Dr. Martin C. Mihm's consulation practice. He served as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Tufts Medical School. He is a dermatopathology consultant to a number of premiere Boston area institutions including Lahey Clinic and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and teaches at Harvard Medical School..

Dr. Zembowicz served as a Director of Harvard Dermatopathology CME Course.He is the Founder of Dermpedia, a dermatology/dermatopathology community and educational publishing platform.

MAJOR CLINICAL RESEARCH AND TEACHING CONTRIBUTIONS:

Dr. Zembowicz’s research involves clinicopathological studies and analysis of cases series with the main objective of describing new disease entities and refining diagnostic criteria, and prognostic features of previously described entities. He is also involved in collaborative and translational research aiming at understanding molecular mechanisms of diseases.

His research led to the original description of pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma, the first member of a new class of low-grade melanomas with capacity to lymph node metastases but a more indolent clinical course then a conventional melanoma. In collaboration with Dr. Constantine Stratakis from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD his team demonstrated that loss of expression of a Carney gene, protein kinase A regulatory subunit 1alfa plays a role in the pathogenesis of pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma.

His work let to recognition of lentiginous melanoma as a novel, more indolent variant of melanoma.

Dr. Zembowicz provided the original description of amelanotic variant of cellular blue nevus and was involved in description of the largest published series of nevoid melanoma and atypical nevi of genital type.

He also wrote articles on other melanocytic tumors including dermal dendritic melanocytic proliferations, nevus of Ito, atypical congenital nevi, pigmented spindle cell nevus of Reed, inverted type A nevus, tumoral melanosis and talon noire.

He defined a histological pattern which correlated with high and low risk of development of melanoma in conjunctival primary melanosis with atypia and described features of juvenile conjunctival nevus which can be confused with melanoma. This variant of melanoma can mimic benign nevus and is responsible for many diagnostic errors. His contributions to ophthalmic pathology incude articles on conjuntival melanoma, phakomatous choristoma of the eyelid and orbital melanoma.

Dr. Zembowicz's experience with adnexal tumors led to the first description of adnexal clear cell carcinoma with comedonecrosis, a  malignant skin tumor with potentially aggressive behavior. He also characterized the entity of endocrine mucin producing sweat gland carcinoma, an under-recognized low-grade carcinoma of the eyelid, and precursor of most mucinous carcinomas in this location. He also identified androgen receptor as a useful diagnostic tool in differential diagnosis between basal cell carcinoma and its benign counterpart, trichoblastoma. He also contributed articles on problems in diagnosis of cutaneous metastases, sebaceous carcinoma, desmpolastic tricholemmoma and porocarcinoma.

Dr. Zembowicz's interest in inflammatory disease led to elucidation of mechanisms involved in NSAID's-induced urticaria, drug eruptions, identification of the novel pattern of initial presentation of acute systemic lupus erythematosus as a neutrophic dermatosis, description of histological features of collagenous vasculopathy, thrombotic trombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and acrodermatitis enteropathica (Zn deficiency) (in press). He also contributed articles on paraneoplastic dermatoses, fungal infection resembling granuloma faciale, Warfarin necrosis, cholesterol embolism, necrobiotic xanthogranuloma, temporal arteritis.

Dr. Zembowicz was asked to discuss cases for New England Journal of Medicine Case Records of Massachusetts General Hospital on familial dysplastic nevus and melanoma, acute lupus erythematosus, systemic lupus erythematosus, polychondritis, subcutaneous granuloma annulare, thin melanoma and sentinel lymph node sampling.

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