EPHEMERIDES

A priceless dermatologist

Dermatologist Naomi Marilyn Kanof was born in New York in 1912, the same year the journal Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia was created. The daughter of Russian immigrants, she studied dermatology in the Skin and Cancer Unit of the New York University Hospital. In 1938, she opened a private clinic in Washington D.C. She was head of the Department of Dermatology at The Children's Hospital National Medical Center and was a faculty member at Georgetown University Medical Center and Howard University. In 1949, she was the first woman to become editor of The Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Throughout her life, she was honored many times for her various contributions to the area of dermatology. She was also the first woman to receive a gold medal, the most prestigious award from the American Academy of Dermatology. She died at the George Washington University Hospital after having a heart attack on June 26, 1988, at age 76.