Legacy Series: Explore the Professional Journey of Prof George A Varigos

Professor Varigos trained in medicine at the University of Melbourne and undertook his residency at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). He completed his Fellowship in Dermatology in 1978, his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in 1988 and was made an Honorary Clinical Professor by the University of Melbourne in January 2013.

He is presently the Head of Dermatology at RMH (since 1984) and was also Head at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) from 1987 to 2012. He has been involved with health care delivery, administration, risk management and quality initiatives, as well as embracing the changes in medical practice in the public hospitals of Victoria with his interest in eczema changing the way care is delivered to children with eczema. He established the first Australian Nurse Practitioner model in dermatology for eczema, and instigated the RCH eczema workshops with nurse-led education clinics.

At RMH, he has served as Principal Investigator in 5 clinical phase three trials with biologics in psoriasis. During a 2001 sabbatical, Prof Varigos worked in London and at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in the stem cell epithelial laboratory. Since working at WEHI for his PhD, he continues an interest in WEHI as well as in the University of Melbourne immunology department.

Prof Varigos has supervised endless research projects, and his recent research interests include cytokines in atopic disease, the effect of a low GI diet on eczema, digitalised dermoscopic tools for moles and melanoma, hair follicle immunology, vitamin D, the psychology of itch in eczema, coeliac disease and psoriasis, and the use of alpha MSH analogs in patients with EPP.