Remembering the Life of a True Giant of Dermatology
Lowell Goldsmith, MD, whose boundless curiosity led him to international renown as a dermatology expert who could achieve the near impossible, passed away in North Carolina on July 10. He was 86.
Dr. Goldsmith was founding chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, former acting chair of Medicine, and dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he brought a spark of entrepreneurship and commitment to patients. He did it all with a warmth and sense of humor that colleagues say helped inspire the people around him.
Even a partial list of his distinctions is long: president of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and president of the Association of Professors of Dermatology, which established an annual Goldsmith Lecture; editorial work on a dozen academic journals; member of the FDA Dermatologic Drugs advisory committee and the board of directors of the American Dermatology Association; part of multiple National Institutes of Health review groups.
And his professional training and faculty appointments took him far and wide— residency at UCLA Medical Center; fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Brandeis University, Oxford University, and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund; professorships at Duke University Medical Center and University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill among many guest lectureships around the world.
Yet in many ways, his course was set early on. Growing up in Brooklyn with his two siblings, he would watch his father in his dental office located in the family home, caring for patients and even developing X-rays. Young Lowell was captivated.
Medicine drew him in because it combined humanistic and scientific elements. His sense of discovery turned that combination into a lifelong calling. He often told friends that he was diagnosed with “a case of incurable curiosity.”
But Dr. Goldsmith had the intelligence and drive not only to ask questions but answer them. He spent years working on his landmark, two-volume set, "Biochemistry and Physiology of the Skin,” serving as editor and also contributing four chapters.
When it published in 1983, two years after his arrival at Rochester, a review in The New England Journal of Medicine called it an “astonishing book…The task that the editor set for himself—to produce a comprehensive, up-to-date, multiauthored yet consistent review of all of experimental dermatology—is probably impossible. That he has largely succeeded evidences years of painstaking work.”
That work, along with his abundant professional activities and research (he co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, books, chapters, and abstracts), had a big effect on Rochester.
“Clearly he had an international reputation,” said Peter Robinson, VP and chief operating officer of URMC at the time. “The medical center and medical school benefited from that in heightened visibility and standing.”
“The medical center and medical school benefited from that in heightened visibility and standing.”
His reputation helped bring top talent to Rochester, culminating in the launching of the Department of Dermatology—what Dr. Goldsmith called “our moon landing.”
Robinson came to see Dr. Goldsmith as an “academic entrepreneur” who brought a spirit of innovation. When Art Papier, MD, now associate professor of Dermatology at URMC, interviewed in 1990 to be a resident, Dr. Goldsmith never asked the usual questions about dermatology. Instead he discussed novels and how technology would change medicine.
“Lowell, being the curious person he was, asked about my experience with computers,” Dr. Papier said. Papier got the residency, and more.
The two ended up with a bold idea: converting tens of thousands of slides to digital images to help healthcare professionals across medicine recognize dermatologic clues. This was before the internet as we know it existed, when digital photography had barely begun. A decade later, the two co-founded VisualDx, which now employs more than 80 people and is used by more than 2,300 hospitals and clinics around the world.
Dr. Papier, VisualDx’s CEO, said, “That’s how this company started—from his openness and curiosity.”
Around the same time, Dr. Goldsmith set out to improve access to dermatology among underserved populations in the city and rural areas. Dr. Goldsmith proposed a digital solution in an analog world.
“He was the first person I heard lay out that idea of digital imaging to expand our reach,” said Leo Brideau, CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital at the time. Now, teledermatology to increase access is common. “That was a pretty significant contribution.”
When Dr. Goldsmith recruited Alice Pentland in 1996 to chair the Department of Dermatology as he was becoming dean, she spoke to him about her vision to bring medicine into the burgeoning electronic world.
“Most people, when I explained my ideas, would say, ‘That’s impossible. That will never happen.’ Lowell said, ‘That’s a great idea.’”
The result was the Center for Future Health, which brought national media coverage, corporate partnerships, and even a display at Epcot Center of the Center’s “smart bathroom” that could help people check their health in the mirror.
All the while, Dr. Goldsmith was breaking ground in researching the genetics and biochemistry of skin disease and developing new drugs for the treatment of genetic skin disorders.
Yet for all this prominence, he wasn’t above taking the time to share advice in local newspaper stories—in his own lively way. In one, he pointed out that wrinkles are not inevitable but mostly due to sun exposure. Consider the buttocks of older people, he said, noting that they rarely display many wrinkles.
He took the time for such things, say colleagues, out of a sense of obligation and commitment to the community.
That, and he was simply fascinated by his work. He collected a range of animal skins, including rhinoceros and porcupine skin, for analysis and comparison with human skin. His travels took him to every continent.
“He was the epitome of a lifelong learner,” said Robinson. When he completed his deanship in 2000, Dr. Goldsmith—then in his 60s—went back to school and earned his master’s of public health at Rochester (and learned metalsmithing as a hobby). He went on to become clinical professor of Dermatology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
He was the epitome of a lifelong learner.
His love of learning brought a natural dedication to teaching. “His real passion was being with students,” Robinson said. “You could see him light up in those settings.”
Dr. Papier remembers “apres clinic” sessions that Dr. Goldsmith would schedule for—of all times—5 p.m. Fridays at the conclusion of his afternoon clinic.
“Obviously the residents wanted to go home,” Dr. Papier said. “But Lowell wanted to review each patient and challenge our thinking. He wanted to make a point: this is about education, about the patient. He was teaching residents about commitment and professionalism. You ended up not minding it was Friday at 5. We learned, and Lowell with his sense of humor made it fun.”
In fact, a generation of aspiring clinicians and scientists have benefited from his passion for mentoring. In 2019, Dr. Goldsmith and his wife, Carol, established the Carol A. & Lowell A. Goldsmith Professorship in Dermatology at URMC. Current Goldsmith professor Lisa A. Beck, MD, noted the rare combination of qualities behind Dr. Goldsmith’s success.
“His breadth and depth of knowledge, both within and outside the field of medicine, set him apart,” she said. But it was also “his engaging and warm personality that made him a beloved figure both here and within the larger international dermatology community.”
If it’s true that people never forget how you made them feel, Dr. Goldsmith will be remembered for a very long time.
“He saw the humor in almost everything,” Brideau said. “I can’t remember him ever in low spirits. And that inspired the people around him.”
And not just some people.
“The incredible thing about Lowell was, even though he had a CV a mile long—all the books, articles, awards—he knew the details of not only the faculty, students, residents. He knew details of the lives of lab techs, secretaries, janitors. He would pay attention to you as a person. Because he cared.”
Steven I. Goldstein, who worked closely with Dr. Goldsmith as president and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital, summed it up:
“Everybody liked Lowell.”
Dr. Goldsmith is survived by Carol, his brother Seth, daughters Eileen and Meredith, and many nephews and nieces.