I CAROLINE LE POOLE, PH.D.



Dr. Le Poole received a Masters degree from the University of Utrecht and defended her Ph.D. thesis on "Aspects of melanocytes in relation to vitiligo" for the University of Amsterdam in 1993, both in the Netherlands. She was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. degree from this Department of Dermatology in its 100+ years of existence. Publications from her thesis focused both on immunological aspects of melanocytes and on chemical properties implicating the involvement of detoxifying enzymes in vitiligo.

In 1995, Caroline came to the US to work in Dr. Raymond Boissy's laboratory at the University of Cincinnati on intrinsic abnormalities of vitiligo pigment cells. She was supported by a stipend from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). In 1999, she moved to Loyola University, Chicago, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Pathology. Research in her laboratory is focused on the crossroads of immune reactivity to normal pigment cells in vitiligo and to tumor cells in melanoma, the "mirror image" of vitiligo. Her research has been supported by the Dermatology Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and repeatedly by the National Vitiligo Foundation. None of this would be possible without the continued support from vitiligo patients donating time, tissue and dollars to help find a cause and a cure.

Caroline can be contacted at ilepool@lumc.edu.

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