Researcher profile

Vincent Piguet

Professor Vincent Piguet, MD, PhD, FRCP, trained at the School of Medicine, University of Geneva and graduated in 1995. He spent two years doing research in virology and immunology at the Salk Institute in San Diego, USA. He obtained his MD and PhD in 2000/2001 and his specialist certification in Dermatology & Venereology in 2004 from the Swiss Medical Association. He obtained a prestigious Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2003 and was subsequently promoted to Assistant and then Associate Professor at University of Geneva. In 2010 he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology and Wound Healing at Cardiff University, Wales, UK and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at the University Hospital of Wales. In 2011 he obtained UK certification in Dermatology and in 2014 became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2011 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University and in 2015, Director of the Division of Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University. In 2017, he was appointed as Full Professor and Department Division Director of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto and Division Head of Dermatology, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto. Professor Piguet has authored over 260 publications in the fields of dermatology, dendritic cells, HIV, gene therapy, immunology and vaccination in a range of highly cited peer review journals such as Cell, Immunity, The Lancet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Blood, and Nature Medicine. He has received numerous grants (including as principal investigator from the Human Frontier Science Program and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) to further his research including in the areas of HIV, psoriasis, melanoma and immunology. He gave the 'Rudi Cormane Lecture' at the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR) in 2014 and has given more than 100 lectures at national and international meetings, including at the World Congress of Dermatology and HIV Keystone meetings. He received a merit award in 2014 from the Society for Arts, Science and Technology in Wales, The Welsh Livery Guild. He is on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Investigative Dermatology and British Journal of Dermatology. He is the Past-President of the ESDR and current Executive Board member, Treasurer and President-Elect of the European Dermatology Forum, a not for profit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare needs of dermatology patients in Europe. In 2017 was honoured with membership of the Academia Europaea, founded in 1988 to advance scholarship and education across all areas of science in Europe. As a member of the academy, Dr. Piguet joins the ranks of more than 70 Nobel Laureates and other prestigious scientists. Dr. Piguet was named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2021.