Naiem T. Issa, MD, PhD, FAAD

Naiem T. Issa, MD, PhD, FAAD, is a board-certified dermatologist practicing in Northern Virginia. He is an assistant professor in the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a clinical instructor at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr Issa received his MD and PhD from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. His PhD is in tumor biology from within the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center, with a focus on computational methods for drug discovery. He completed his internship in general surgery at Washington Hospital Center. Dr Issa then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship and a dermatology residency at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Hospital.

His work is particularly focused on repurposing current US Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs for new dermatologic and cancer indications. Dr Issa’s research interests include drug discovery for hair loss, vascular malformations such as Sturge-Weber Syndrome, and the healing of chronic wounds. His major research accomplishments have been the repurposing of the antihookworm medication mebendazole as a kinase inhibitor and an antiangiogenic for various malignancies, the discovery of the first small-molecule drug to directly inhibit the GNAQ protein implicated in Sturge-Weber Syndrome, and the first use of oral ruxolitinib for a deadly form of gamma-delta cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

Dr Issa is a nationally and internationally recognized lecturer and has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and 2 textbook chapters across various disciplines within dermatology and drug discovery. He has received research funding support from the Sturge-Weber Foundation, the Dermatology Foundation, and the University of Miami Scientific Advisory Committee. Finally, Dr Issa is also inventor of a patent on cannabidiol nanoparticles combined with minoxidil for hair regrowth and a pending patent on a novel anesthetic combination for ambulatory skin surgeries designed to reduce the need for epinephrine.