john e. harris md phd

John E. Harris, MD, PhD

Director, Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center

Chair Designate, Department of Dermatology

University of Massachusetts Medical School and UMass/Memorial Hospital

Worcester, MA  USA

Advances in Immune Mechanisms of Vitiligo

Recent advances in understanding the immune mechanisms of vitiligo are leading to new treatments for the disease. Current strategies include inhibiting T cell function and migration to the skin, as well as long-term survival of autoreactive memory T cells. An advanced understanding of cellular signaling within vitiligo lesions may lead to more advanced therapeutic approaches in the future.

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Vitiligo International Symposium

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Join our vitiligo study

Help us stop vitiligo before it begins.

Now Enrolling Individuals With Vitiligo & Family Members!

Help us stop vitiligo before it starts

We're seeking individuals with vitiligo, as well as their family members who do not have vitiligo to help us conduct our V itiligo G enetics of O nset and R elapse (VIGOR) study. Our goal is to better understand the causes of vitiligo and predict who might be at risk of developing it. Thanks to the generous support of the vitiligo community, we have made a lot of progress to learn what is happening in the skin when vitiligo develops, and we believe this information could help us identify those who might eventually develop it.

Who Can Join?

• Individuals 6 or older in the US or Canada.
• Individuals with vitiligo and their family members without vitiligo.
• Individuals willing to donate skin and blood samples using an easy-to use home device, along with periodic surveys. Learn more about our devices here .
• Individuals motivated to participate for 5 years.

What’s involved?

• One saliva sample collection.
• Online survey completion every 3 months.
• Skin and blood sample collection every 6 months completed at home. Click here to see how easy this is!

Learn More About Our Groundbreaking Study!

Latest Blog Posts

• The Future of Vitiligo Research is Now: A Look Back at the VCORT Symposium

Mar 4, 2024

• Exciting Progress and Important Updates from the VIGOR Study

Feb 22, 2024

• Team Spotlight: Elaine Flynn
• Team Spotlight: Jane Vongvirath
• Team Spotlight: Elizabeth MacDonald

If you and your family member are interested in participating in this study, please follow the link below

Manuel Garber, PhD

As a co-lead investigator of this study, I am a computational biologist with a strong background in mathematics and a passion for applying new technologies to the study of immune responses. My interest in biology began with the sequencing of the human genome and has since focused on identifying the molecular signatures associated with different immune states.

John E Harris, MD, PhD

As a co-lead investigator of this study, a board-certified dermatologist, and a physician-scientist, my career goal is to translate basic research findings into clinical applications that benefit individuals with vitiligo. I have received the AAD Marion B. Sulzberger Award for conducting basic science research that has changed the practice of medicine

Todd Pearson, PhD

I am an assistant professor in the department of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School. I received my Ph.D. in Immunology and Virology from the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School and have had a lifelong focus on understanding the genetic and cellular mechanisms that cause autoimmune diseases.

Celia Hartigan, RN, MPH

My role is to organize and oversee this study and make sure all of the regulatory requirements are maintained throughout the study.

Elizabeth Macdonald

As a clinical research coordinator, I work closely with participants and guide them throughout the course of the study.

Rich Spritz, MD

For over four decades, my laboratory studied genes that cause human diseases, particularly vitiligo, on which we carried out various studies.

Our team has focused on finding the cure for vitiligo for over 15 years. During this time our work supported FDA approval of the first treatment for vitiligo in 2022, and multiple ongoing clinical trials to test additional treatments for vitiligo are based on our research. We were invited to attend the Vitiligo Meeting at the FDA to advocate for the approval of these medicines. We run a weekly Vitiligo Clinic to diagnose and offer treatments to people with vitiligo who travel from all over the world. We helped negotiate a major policy change with a prominent health insurance payer in Massachusetts that resulted in thousands of patients finally getting their treatments covered. We have trained dermatologists and scientists from all over the world to treat and study vitiligo. In short, we care about people with vitiligo, and we are working tirelessly to improve their quality of life in many ways.

Previous funding from philanthropists/supporters (thank you), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private foundations, and other sources have enabled this important work as we relentlessly pursue a better understanding of how vitiligo works. We believe that exciting new treatments are coming in the next few years, which will change how we view and approach people who want to treat their vitiligo. But now we need to take the critical next step to find a cure. This new project, also generously funded by the NIH, will seek to understand how people get vitiligo in the first place. We hope that this will give us insight into the root causes of vitiligo, help us to correct those causes to cure it, and may even offer ideas on how to prevent vitiligo in the first place.

Participate in our study and help us find a cure for vitiligo

John E. Harris, MD, PhD

Advancements in Targeted Therapies for Vitiligo: Prioritizing Equity in Drug Development

We provide a brief overview of clinical trial results of Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for treating vitiligo and discuss the trial cohorts, with an...

Vitiligo Pathogenesis and Emerging Treatments

Affiliations.

• 1 Department of Dermatology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA; Department of Dermatology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 415 Taleqani Avenue, Tehran 1416613675, Iran.
• 2 Department of Dermatology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 28317534
• PMCID: PMC5362109
• DOI: 10.1016/j.det.2016.11.014

The pathogenesis of vitiligo involves interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic melanocyte defects, innate immune inflammation, and T-cell-mediated melanocyte destruction. The goal of treatment is to not only halt disease progression but also promote repigmentation through melanocyte regeneration, proliferation, and migration. Treatment strategies that address all aspects of disease pathogenesis and repigmentation are likely to have greatest efficacy, a strategy that may require combination therapies. Current treatments generally involve nontargeted suppression of autoimmunity, whereas emerging treatments are likely to use a more targeted approach based on in-depth understanding of disease pathogenesis, which may provide higher efficacy with a good safety profile.

Keywords: Autoimmunity; Cellular stress; Chemokines; Melanogenesis; Targeted therapy; Vitiligo.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publication types

• Adaptive Immunity / immunology
• Antioxidants / therapeutic use
• Autoimmunity / immunology*
• Immunity, Innate / immunology
• Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use
• Melanocytes / immunology*
• Melanocytes / metabolism
• Oxidative Stress
• Phototherapy
• Regeneration
• Self Tolerance / immunology
• T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology*
• Vitiligo / immunology*
• Vitiligo / therapy
• Antioxidants
• Immunosuppressive Agents

Grants and funding

• R01 AR069114/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/United States

• Qazi Corner
• Biosimilars Spotlight
• DME & nAMD On-Demand Presentation

• Multimedia Series
• Conferences
• Advisory Board

The Promising Future of Vitiligo Treatment

John E. Harris, MD, PhD, explains how JAK inhibitors and biologic therapy may advance the field from "Iron Age" era treatment strategy.

Advancement in vitiligo care has practically been stalled for thousands of years. But now, a swath of innovations may push treatment capability to long sought-after heights.

In an interview with HCPLive during the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) 2022 Annual Meeting in Boston this weekend, John E. Harris, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School, discussed the history of stagnancy that has plagued patients with chronic skin condition.

“During the Iron Age, there are documents that tell us how to treat vitiligo, including eating black seeds with sorlands in them and then sitting out in the sun—which is essentially PUVASOL that we’ve used as recently as this last decade,” Harris explained. “We’ve now evolved slightly beyond that to use narrow-band UV—very effective for vitiligo, but really cumbersome—and it’s only a slight advance over what we were using in the Iron Age.”

Even monobenzone cream, the lone vitiligo treatment currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was deemed a failed therapy by Harris; famously the treatment of pop star Michael Jackson, the topical therapy is associated with removing patient’s skin pigmentation altogether.

But now with new JAK inhibitors in development—including ruxolitinib cream, which is seeking FDA approval later this year—patients may have more options to address vitiligo. Harris additionally discussed oral therapy candidates, and pathway-inhibiting agents such as memory cell-targeting biologics.

“Resonant memory T-cells form in the skin with vitiligo,” Harris said. “These T-cells crawl into the skin, they find melanocytes and they kill them—that’s what gives you white spots. And a proportion of those cells convert into a memory state called resonant memory.”

“We found those cells require interleukin 15 (IL-15) signaling to be maintained in the skin, and when you block IL-15, they actually exit the skin and are erased from the epidermis,” Harris explained.

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Dermatology Skills for Internal Medicine Physicians with Roy Colven, MD

Pre-Visit Planning Could Significantly Improve Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates

2 Commerce Drive Cranbury, NJ 08512

609-716-7777

• Victor Mukhin

Victor M. Mukhin was born in 1946 in the town of Orsk, Russia. In 1970 he graduated the Technological Institute in Leningrad. Victor M. Mukhin was directed to work to the scientific-industrial organization "Neorganika" (Elektrostal, Moscow region) where he is working during 47 years, at present as the head of the laboratory of carbon sorbents.     Victor M. Mukhin defended a Ph. D. thesis and a doctoral thesis at the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (in 1979 and 1997 accordingly). Professor of Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. Scientific interests: production, investigation and application of active carbons, technological and ecological carbon-adsorptive processes, environmental protection, production of ecologically clean food.   

Title : Active carbons as nanoporous materials for solving of environmental problems

Quick links.

• Conference Brochure
• Tentative Program

Vitiligo Spotlight – John E. Harris, MD, PhD

February 2021

Global Vitiligo Foundation founding member Dr. John E. Harris, MD, PhD delivered an informative presentation at the recent VIS 2020 titled, “Advances in Immune Mechanisms of Vitiligo.” His presentation covered recent advances in understanding the immune mechanisms of vitiligo, which are leading to new treatments for the disease. Current strategies include inhibiting T cell function and migration to the skin, as well as long-term survival of autoreactive memory T cells. As he explains, an advanced understanding of cellular signaling within vitiligo lesions may lead to more advanced therapeutic approaches in the future.

Watch his presentation here .

Global Vitiligo Foundation

400 Winding Creek Blvd. Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 USA

Phone: 866-777-1277

Email: [email protected]

Website:  globalvitiligofoundation.org

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