Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Dr. Kourosh is a board certified dermatologist and Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Professor of Environmental Health at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. She is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center where she received the institutions awards for Leadership and Outstanding Professionalism and Humanism as a physician.

Dr. Kourosh is committed to patient advocacy and solving public health problems for patients with skin disease. She developed the Skin Advocate iPhone App, a free smartphone application that connects patients with patient advocacy organizations for their skin conditions. She has served as Editor in Chief of Dialogues in Dermatology, the official podcast and internationally subscribed educational program of the American Academy of Dermatology.

As the Founding Director of the Dermatology Division of Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Kourosh has built and led the clinics providing access to dermatologic care for underserved communities and created multiple community programs to serve them. As the Founding Director of the Clinic for Pigmentary Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Kourosh created the clinics and center for research at MGH for skin conditions disproportionately affecting people of color. She is also the founder and director of The Radiance Clinic, the Harvard pro bono tattoo removal program to assist those escaping gangs and human trafficking to be safe and reintegrate into society, which has won national awards for its impact. She also advocates for patients at the national level in the American Academy of Dermatology delegation to Congress to protect medical research and affordable care for patients with skin disease.

Her research at the intersection of Dermatology and Public Health has, including her pioneering work on Zoom Dysmorphia, climate and health and environmental justice in the impacts of pollution on skin diseases and aging especially in vulnerable populations, and on the skin signs of human trafficking has reached national and international impact and been featured on The Today Show, the Daily Show, PBS, Fox News and Boston Globe Media, in Oprah Magazine, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Consumer Reports, Allure, Harvard Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Wired Magazine among many others, and for which she has been a featured speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Dr. Kourosh has won numerous awards including the Massachusetts General Hospital Clinician-Teacher Award, the Harvard Medical School Deans Community Service Award, the Ernesto Gonzalez Award for outstanding service to the Latino Community and Boston Top Doctors. In 2020 she received the American Academy of Dermatology Presidential Citation for outstanding service during the COVID19 crisis. She has received additional Presidential Citations from both the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Society for Medicine and Surgery for her leadership of a national task force and multiple initiatives to aid those affected human trafficking, and was awarded the International League of Dermatology Societies Humanitarian Award for her leadership in the global dermatology community in advocacy and building infrastructure in medical community to assist patients affected by human trafficking.
She has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology, and she has been named one of Medscapes 25 Rising Stars in Medicine.

Email: Shadi@mail.harvard.edu
Twitter: @DrShadi_