Mary-Margaret “Meg” Chren, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology and holder of the Robert N. and Rachelle Buchanan and A.H. and Lucile Lancaster Chair in Dermatology, will retire from VUMC on Dec. 31. She will become a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences.
Allison Hanlon, MD, PhD, MBA, associate professor of Dermatology, has been chosen to serve as the department’s interim chair, beginning Jan. 1, 2025. A national search will be conducted to identify Chren’s permanent successor.
Throughout her career Chren, who is also a clinical epidemiologist, has been an innovator whose investigative focus has been on the measurement of complex health outcomes of skin disease. She developed and refined a widely used measure of patients’ experience of skin diseases, called Skindex, and has substantial experience in validating measurement tools for patient-reported outcomes.
At Stanford she will continue this work by focusing on the social science framework for relationships in health care: how relationships between physicians and patients, and among physicians, have become eroded in American medicine, and how they can be enriched and sustained.
“With dermatologic services being among our most sought-after clinical offerings, we are fortunate to have benefited from Dr. Chren’s leadership as the department’s inaugural chair. She has fostered an environment where her colleagues can thrive while providing our patients outstanding care. I want to express my gratitude for her service and wish her the best as she begins the next phase of her career,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“I also want to thank Dr. Hanlon for her service as interim chair. I look forward to working with her as we continue to build on the department’s bright future.”
Chren joined VUMC in 2018 and built on the excellence established under the leadership of the late Lloyd King, MD, PhD, of the previous Division of Dermatology.
The department now includes 31 faculty and clinicians — a growth of 60% since 2018. In addition to general dermatology, specialized clinics provide the region’s most comprehensive array of services, including procedural dermatology and Mohs surgery, pediatric dermatology, photodermatology, cutaneous lymphoma care and complex medical dermatology.
Each year, the Dermatology Inpatient Consultation Service cares for nearly 1,000 patients with complex skin conditions at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Patients are also seen in multidisciplinary settings, such as the Vascular Anomalies Clinic, Wound Care Clinic, and Vanderbilt Comprehensive Care Clinic. The department’s new clinic at Nashville General Hospital meets unmet needs for patients and provides opportunities for residents and students at Meharry Medical College to learn dermatology. Three dermatopathologists provide full-range cutaneous histopathological services not only to VUMC clinicians but also to many referring clinicians from throughout the South.
The department advances health equity and was recently named one of the first recipients of a groundbreaking national program sponsored by the American Academy of Dermatology, the Curriculum for Advancing Racial Equity. The two-day intensive in-person program will equip members of the department to recognize and address the impact of structural racism on health and health care.
Vanderbilt Dermatology creates the future of dermatology through education and discovery. The department trains 16 residents and fellows who are selected from over 650 applicants. To advance discovery in dermatology, Chren recruited Nicole Ward, PhD, a prominent immunobiologist, as professor and vice chair for Basic Research. Together, Chren and Ward have recruited and developed four physician-scientists. Their programs use data science techniques to analyze images and monitor skin diseases over time, elucidate the genetic epidemiology of high-risk skin cancers, and study the pathogenesis of serious allergic cutaneous drug reactions. Federal support for research has grown substantially in the last five years, with the funding of National Institutes of Health R01 grants and career development awards for junior investigators.
“The future is incredibly bright for Vanderbilt Dermatology,” said Chren. “We’ve assembled outstanding faculty and exceptional residents. Most importantly, we can grow in the broader environment of VUMC, with its incomparable academic environment and culture of collaborative ambition. Working with the other chairs and with Drs. Balser, Pinson and Pietenpol has been a professional high point for me, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”
Since 2020 Chren has served VUMC as Strategic Advisor for Departmental Planning. In this role she oversees the performance of strategic retreats for clinical departments at VUMC, including the semiannual retreats of all clinical chairs. These structured gatherings focus on collectively conceiving plans to achieve VUMC goals within the departments.
Chren has mentored many junior researchers and has authored over 195 peer-reviewed papers. Her work has been funded by grants from the NIH and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Before joining VUMC, Chren was professor and director of Patient-Oriented Research in Dermatology at the University of California at San Francisco.
“None of our accomplishments at VUMC could have happened without the talent, good will, creativity and ambition of everyone in the new department. I’m extremely excited to watch the department continue to grow and achieve new milestones,” said Chren.
Hanlon joined the faculty of VUMC in 2016. She completed her residency in Dermatology and a fellowship in Mohs micrographic surgery here at Vanderbilt in 2010. Prior to joining VUMC, she was an assistant professor of Dermatology at Yale University where she focused on patient care, teaching, and research. She is knowledgeable in all aspects of dermatology with expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. As an educator, Hanlon has authored articles and book chapters in the academic dermatologic literature. She is the sole editor of A Practical Guide to Skin Cancer.
Hanlon lectures nationally on surgical techniques, skin cancer treatments, and skin cancer in patients with compromised immune systems. She has served on the board of directors for the International Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative and as a committee member on the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, and the American College of Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology. Her research has focused on skin cancer in the immunocompromised and rare cutaneous tumors.
