We are pleased to announce the appointment of Alison Bates Durham, M.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology, as the Lewis and Lillian Becker Professor of Dermatology, Medical School, effective October 1, 2020.
Established in April 2005 through a generous gift and pledge from Lewis and Lillian Becker, this professorship is intended to facilitate programs to advance and accelerate medical research related to skin cancer epidemiology, therapy, education, and biology within the Department of Dermatology. Dr. Timothy Johnson was the inaugural recipient of the Lewis and Lillian Becker Professorship, which he held from June 2005 through his retirement at the end of September 2020. Dr. Durham’s appointment as Becker professor is the first endowed professorship of a female faculty member in the U-M Department of Dermatology.
Dr. Alison Durham received her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree at the University of Michigan Medical School in 2008. Following graduation, she completed her transitional year internship at Summa Health System in Ohio, and her dermatology residency at the University of Michigan, where she served as Chief Resident in her final year. She completed an ACGME-accredited Procedural Dermatology Fellowship at the University of Michigan, prior to her recruitment as a clinical lecturer in dermatology in 2013. Dr. Durham became a clinical assistant professor in 2014, and was promoted to clinical associate professor in 2020.
Dr. Durham’s research focuses on the optimization of clinical outcomes for patients with complex cutaneous malignancies, and as director of the Cutaneous Oncology Biobank Program, she has established herself as a national expert on management of melanoma and other high-risk skin cancers in the field of cutaneous oncology. She has published 28 peer-reviewed articles, and has presented her research nationally and internationally.
Dr. Durham is an exceptional educator and mentor, who serves as Assistant Director of the Dermatology Residency Program, and Director of the Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship Program. In addition, she is an outstanding physician, who provides the highest quality care to patients in our skin cancer programs.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Durham on her appointment as the Lewis and Lillian Becker Professor of Dermatology.