Ervin Epstein, M.D. is co-founder of PellePharm and serves on the PellePharm board of directors. Ervin is a practicing dermatologist. From 1972 to 2007, Ervin was a research dermatologist and clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco. Ervin and his colleagues conducted the first randomized trials evaluating chemoprevention of basal cell carcinomas, testing the effects of celecoxib, tazarotene and vismodegib in people with Gorlin syndrome. His lab also identified dysregulated hedgehog signaling as the molecular defect causing all basal cell carcinomas. Ervin has served as secretary/treasurer and president of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and as a member of the advisory council of the National Institute for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases of the NIH. He is an honorary member of investigative and clinical dermatologic societies worldwide. Ervin earned his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He is lead author on papers that have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and Science.
From 2007 to 2018, Dr. Epstein was a scientist at the research arm of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, an institute at the forefront of translating research into interventions for treating and preventing human diseases. At UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Dr. Epstein’s research included the use of hedgehog inhibitors for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma and related conditions such as Gorlin syndrome.
