ISHRS Honors Two Distinguished Members With Prestigious Follicle Awards For Advancing Excellence In Hair Restoration Surgery
CHICAGO – Nov. 7, 2020. The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) recently honored two surgeons for their significant contributions to the field of hair restoration surgery during its 28th World Congress, which was held in October virtually for the first time in the Society’s history due to the pandemic.
“Every year, a highlight of our World Congress is celebrating the achievements of two members with the Society’s esteemed follicle awards,” said the Spaniard hair surgeon Francisco Jimenez, MD, FISHRS, Immediate Past President. “We were determined not to let the pandemic dampen our spirits and hosted a festive virtual celebration to honor our very worthy award recipients.”
The 2020 Golden Follicle Award, bestowed annually to an ISHRS member who has made outstanding and significant clinical contributions related to the field of hair restoration surgery, was awarded to Robert T. Leonard, Jr., DO, FISHRS, of Warwick, Rhode Island, USA. A strong educator known for teaching and introducing new doctors to the specialty and its significant advances over the years, Dr. Leonard has more than 30 years experience in the field of hair restoration surgery and is credited with effectively communicating the achievements of modern hair transplantation to the media and the public. The youngest member ever elected President of ISHRS, Dr. Leonard has served in numerous leadership roles during his storied career. He was the founding Secretary of ISHRS (1993-1994), the first ISHRS World Congress Exhibits Chair, a member of the ISHRS Board of Governors and Past-Presidents Committee, and a longstanding Chair of the Communications and Public Education Committee. Dr. Leonard has been published in over a dozen journals and textbook chapters and has attended all 28 ISHRS Annual Meetings.
The 2020 Platinum Follicle Award, given for outstanding achievement in basic scientific or clinically-related research in hair pathophysiology or anatomy as it relates to hair restoration, was presented to Moonkyu Kim, MD, PhD, FISHRS, of Seoul, Korea. Both a hair transplant surgeon and a hair researcher, Dr. Kim has conducted and been involved in many notable research projects relevant to hair restoration surgery over the years. His mentor was one of the very first ISHRS members to also receive a Platinum Follicle Award, and together they published several papers on hair biology related topics in highly ranked journals. These topics include gene expression of dermal papilla cells, gene expression comparisons in frontal vs. beard hair, and signaling pathways in hair growth — including the Wnt/βcatenin pathway for which he won an ISHRS poster award in 2016. Most recently, Dr. Kim has published on exosomes. A regular speaker at international congresses on both hair transplant and hair research topics, Dr. Kim has been a member of the ISHRS since 2004.
About the ISHRS
The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) is a global non-profit medical association and the leading authority on hair loss treatment and restoration with 1,000 members throughout 70 countries worldwide. Above all, the ISHRS is dedicated to achieving excellence in patient outcomes by promoting the highest standards of medical practice, medical ethics, and research in the medical hair restoration industry. The ISHRS also provides continuing medical education to physicians specializing in hair transplant surgery and is committed to delivering the latest information on medical and surgical treatments to consumers suffering from hair loss, and most commonly from androgenetic alopecia – male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss. It was founded in 1993 as the first international society to promote continuing quality improvement and education for professionals in the field of hair restoration surgery. For more information and to locate a physician, visit ishrs.org./find-a-doctor
For pictures during the Awards Ceremony, visit this page.
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