Dr. Benjamin Chong

Dr. Benjamin Chong’s interest in dermatology began as a medical student on a mission trip to Papua New Guinea. “The most impressionable patients that I saw were ones with severe skin rashes,” he said. “Helping those patients made a lasting impact on their lives.”

Later, as a medical student working in a laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Chong learned how the skin could play a major role in the body’s immune system. These experiences cemented his passion for the medical specialty, ultimately leading to his recent selection as the inaugural holder of the Anita C. Gilliam, M.D., Ph.D., Professorship in Dermatology.

“As a dermatologist, I strongly feel that I have the greatest impact on my patients when I can use their skin as a diagnostic tool to reveal what is going on inside their bodies,” the Associate Professor of Dermatology said. “For example, cutaneous lupus erythematosus is often the first sign of systemic lupus erythematosus. Recognizing this disease and treating it early has the potential of slowing down disease progression.”

The Gilliam Professorship, largely established though an unrestricted 2016 bequest from Dr. Anita Gilliam, is named for the 1988 graduate of UT Southwestern Medical School and widow of former faculty member Dr. James N. Gilliam, for whom a Chair in Dermatology is also named. The couple’s daughter, Dr. Amy Gilliam of Palo Alto, California, supported applying the willed funds to her parents’ medical specialty.

“We are grateful to Dr. Anita Gilliam for remembering UT Southwestern so generously  and are pleased to establish this endowment as a meaningful memorial to her career as a physician and researcher,” said Dr. J. Gregory Fitz, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, and Dean of UT Southwestern Medical School. “We are delighted to now have both Drs. James and Anita Gilliam honored with named endowments supporting our Dermatology faculty. This is a wonderful legacy to the service they provided their patients and the field of dermatology.”

Dr. Chong, who joined the Department of Dermatology as an Assistant Instructor in 2008, said a brief encounter with the Professorship’s namesake made a lasting impression and deepened his gratitude.

“I am very humbled to receive this recognition because Dr. Anita Gilliam was a well-respected clinician-scientist of dermatology. I had met her briefly when I interviewed as a dermatology residency applicant, and remember being impressed by her fortitude, passion, and friendliness,” Dr. Chong said. “This honor also carries special meaning to me because her husband was a pioneer in cutaneous lupus erythematosus, which is the disease that I currently study and specialize in.”

Dr. Chong graduated magna cum laude in chemistry at Harvard University before earning his medical degree at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2004. He completed an internal medicine internship at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and his dermatology residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, serving as chief resident from 2007-2008.

At UT Southwestern, his clinical interests include cutaneous lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, and sarcoidosis. He is the Principal Investigator of the UT Southwestern Cutaneous Lupus Registry, which serves as a foundation for his clinical and translational research in cutaneous lupus erythematosus.

Dr. Fitz holds the Nadine and Tom Craddick Distinguished Chair in Medical Science and the Atticus James Gill, M.D. Chair in Medical Science.