PANOS VASILOUDES
MD, PHD, FAAD, FAAP, FASMS
Under Dr. Panos Vasiloudes’ longtime leadership, Academic Alliance in Dermatology has become truly academic, integrating basic science, clinical research and a full range of clinical dermatology services to help keep the Tampa Bay community healthy. “My goal was, knowing how the greater Tampa Bay area was so spread out, to provide academic-quality dermatology in everybody’s backyard,” Dr. Vasiloudes says.
Today, Academic Alliance in Dermatology has 18 locations across Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties, with plans to expand to Sarasota and Bradenton later this year. Dr. Vasiloudes and his team of physicians focus heavily on genetics to determine a patient’s melanoma risk and best treatment options. They examine patients’ family trees to find disease inheritance patterns; in the lab, they look at cells and tissue to find the exact DNA involved in that family’s pattern of melanoma.
The Academic Alliance in Dermatology team has also made strides in analyzing the connection between melanoma and other genetically related cancers like lung, pancreas and colon cancer within families. “We’d like to understand why the grandfather develops melanoma, the father develops lung cancer, and the son develops melanoma,” Dr. Vasiloudes says. “We’re trying to understand the interplay between the genes. It’s fascinating.”
“MY GOAL WAS, KNOWING HOW THE GREATER TAMPA BAY AREA WAS SO SPREAD OUT, TO PROVIDE ACADEMIC-QUALITY DERMATOLOGY IN EVERYBODY’S BACKYARD”
Thanks in part to Academic Alliance’s outreach efforts to increase awareness of melanoma in the community, earlier detection of the disease and the study of patients’ family history, Dr. Vasiloudes says many fewer people are dying from skin cancer in the Tampa Bay area. “We cannot reduce the rate of new melanomas in the community, but what we have reduced significantly is the death from melanoma,” he says. “If we go back 20 years, we found about 10 percent of melanomas were invasive. Today we’re down to maybe 3 percent.” Dr. Vasiloudes and his team make frequent local TV appearances and host skin cancer screenings, open houses and other events to get the message out about melanoma, which he sees as a key part of his legacy. “I believe real progress comes with in-depth education, in every aspect,” Dr. Vasiloudes says. “We need to be all-inclusive, diverse and open-minded, and to educate each other.”
ACADEMIC ALLIANCE IN DERMATOLOGY
18 locations in the Tampa Bay area
To find the location nearest you, visit tampadermatology.com
Check out our other People Moving Tampa stories like this one on Dr. Michael Barbick here.
