Dermatology Shapiro Summer Research Scholars

November

• Dermatology faculty projects posted on this page

December

• Faculty projects posted on Shapiro Scholars website
• Medical students submit interest via Dermatology Shapiro Scholars Survey

January-February

• Dermatology Shapiro Scholar Selection Committee meets to review student proposals
• Medical students are informed whether they have been selected to proceed
• Medical students work on student proposals with mentors prior to submission

March

• Students submit proposals to SMPH Shapiro Program
  
• Proposals reviewed by SMPH Student Research Committee

April

• Proposal decisions announced

May-August

• Shapiro Summer Research Program

August-September

• Student presents their summer research to the Department of Dermatology

November

• Student presents their summer research at the Medical Student Research Forum

In 2025, data from two investigator-initiated clinical trials demonstrated remarkable efficacy of the experimental benzyl styryl sulfone ON-01910 (rigosertib or estybon) for irradicating primary tumors in patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). Whilst the data are extremely exciting in the context of providing clinical options for treatment of RDEB-associated squamous cell carcinoma (RDEB SCC), several barriers to clinical development of rigosertib have been identified that center on differing bioavailability of drug from patient to patient and patent expiration. A few alternative compounds, based on the structure of ON-01910, are available and this project will test sensitivity of RDEB SCC cell lines to benzyl styryl sulfone alternatives.

Despite growing recognition that social determinants of health contribute meaningfully to allergic disease burden (PMID: 38648973, PMID: 36720389, 38295102, 36720389), the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and atopic dermatitis (AD) severity remains insufficiently characterized, particularly in the United States (PMID: 37816695, PMID: 27888035). Yet studies consistently demonstrate health care disparities which put black and Hispanic children at higher risk of adverse outcomes from allergic disease than white children (PMID 27888035, PMID: 36720389). These disparities could result, at least in part, from access-driven differences in appropriate diagnosis, evaluation and management. Conversely, they might also reflect differences in disease biology driven by socioeconomic and neighborhood disadvantage. In other dermatologic disorders, including cutaneous lupus, geospatial deprivation is tightly associated with increased cutaneous disease activity and damage, independent of race/ethnicity, or specialist access (PMID 39046758). Within the allergic realm, existing work using the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) has demonstrated clear associations between neighborhood-level deprivation and comorbid atopic conditions such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. Yet data linking area deprivation to atopic dermatitis severity remain inconsistent and limited by heterogeneous severity definitions, incomplete comorbidity data, and lack of integration between individual and neighborhood socioeconomic factors.

This study will address these gaps by leveraging a single centered, contemporary cohort (using case-control methodology) of pediatric patients with AD cared for within a single, integrated allergy–dermatology network at the University of Wisconsin. By using initiation of systemic therapy as a validated marker of moderate-to-severe disease and linking each patient’s last known address (between 2022-2025) to Wisconsin state-level ADI, this study will evaluate whether neighborhood deprivation independently predicts more severe AD after accounting for comorbid atopic conditions, referral patterns, and individual sociodemographic factors.

We hypothesize that living in a socioeconomically deprived neighborhood will independently contribute to more severe AD, using initiation of systemic therapy as a proxy, after controlling for race/ethnicity, access to specialty care, and comorbid atopy. We hypothesize that diagnosis of asthma will also associate with high ADI.

Biologics and small molecule inhibitors including Dupilimab, Lebrikizumab, Tralokinumab, Upadacitinib and Abrocitinib provide a robust, clinically meaningful proxy of moderate-to-severe AD, accepted across clinical trials and real-world studies. The decision to start systemic therapy typically reflects a combination of disease severity, chronicity, lack of response to optimized topical therapy, and specialist involvement. As such, it provides a direct measure of clinically significant disease burden, reflecting an actionable threshold of severity in the real world. Wisconsin’s state-level ADI is one of the most granular and well-validated versions in the U.S., allowing precise linkage of patient addresses to neighborhood deprivation. Because the University of Wisconsin represents a major referral center for pediatric allergy and dermatology, the study minimizes variability in care pathways and reduces confounding by site-level practice differences. To our knowledge, no studies to date have directly evaluated the relationship between ADI and initiation of systemic therapy in pediatric AD. The use of this single centered dataset will allow simultaneous evaluation of neighborhood deprivation, individual sociodemographic factors and comorbid atopy.