Rate My Professor Thomas Leung

Thomas H. Leung is the Herman Beerman Professor of Dermatology and a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1998, a Ph.D. in Biology from the California Institute of Technology in 2005, and an M.D. from UCLA School of Medicine in 2007 through the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine and residency in Dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine from 2007 to 2011, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship with Seung K. Kim from 2011 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, he served as Instructor in the Department of Dermatology and Co-Director of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Multidisciplinary Clinic at Stanford. Since 2015, he has been at the University of Pennsylvania, initially as Assistant Professor and advancing to Associate Professor. Leung is Founding Director of the Penn 4D Center for Human Skin Biology and the Residency Research Track, Staff Physician at the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Director of the Skin Translational Research Core at the NIH-funded Skin Biology Disease Resource-Based Center, and Co-Director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine Epithelial Stem Cell Program.

Leung's research centers on immune regulation in inflammatory skin diseases and mechanisms of scarless wound healing, encompassing precision medicine, regenerative medicine, dermatology, wound healing, and inflammation. His laboratory explores tissue regeneration, inflammation, and molecular therapeutics, funded by the NIH and VA. Notable publications include "Carnosic acid in topical rosemary extract enhances skin repair via TRPA1 activation" (JCI Insight, 2025), "SAA1/FPR2 signaling between keratinocytes and neutrophils sustains chronic inflammation in Sweet syndrome" (J Clin Invest, 2025), "Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor promotes scarless tissue regeneration" (Cell Reports, 2024), "One nucleotide change in a kappa B site can determine cofactor specificity for NF-κB dimers" (Cell, 2004), and "Achieving Stability of LPS-Induced NF-κB Activation" (Science, 2005). His work has garnered over 3,000 citations. Awards include the 2014 Young Investigator Award and Eugene A. Bauer Award from the American Academy of Dermatology and Stanford Dermatology, NIH/NIAMS K08 Career Development Award (2014-2019), and Dermatology Foundation Physician-Scientist Career Development Award (2012-2015). He reviews for journals such as Nature Chemical Biology and Journal of Clinical Investigation and serves on the NIAMS-NIH AMS committee.