Dr. Richard Edelson of Westport named a national physician of the year

3/8/2012 — Richard L. Edelson, MD, chief of dermatology at Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine since 1986, will be honored later this month as one of three "National Physicians of the Year" at the seventh annual Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. National Awards in New York City.

Dr. Edelson and two other physicians were chosen by a committee of medical peers from among 150 nominees from around the country for excellence in clinical medical practice and tireless work in their respective field of medicine.

Dr. Edelson, the Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor of Dermatology at YSM, has also served as director of Yale Cancer Center (YCC), director of YCC's lymphoma research program and YSM deputy dean for clinical affairs. Dr. Edelson received his medical degree at the Yale School of Medicine and completed his internship in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and his residency in dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Edelson is an internationally-recognized pioneer in the research and treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a commonly lethal cancer originating in the skin and spreading throughout the body. He identified and characterized this cancer, and his research group played a central role in deciphering the basic properties of CTCL cells in order to develop effective therapies.

Dr. Edelson developed extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) for CTCL patients in clinical trials at Yale Cancer Center. ECP, the first FDA approved selective immunotherapy for any cancer, has been used more than 3 million times worldwide to treat CTCL, organ transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease, the major complication following bone marrow transplantation.

Castle Connolly Medical is best known as the firm that publishes the "Top Doctors" series of books and as the producer of the Top Doctors database that appears on the website of U.S. News and World Report. The organization, whose mission is "to help consumers find the best healthcare in America," was founded in 1991.

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org