Lidia Rudnicka

Lidia Rudnicka (born February 19, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois) is a Polish-American dermatologist with contributions to the field of scleroderma research, hair diseases and melanoma prevention.

Rudnicka was the chairman of the Department of Dermatology CSK MSWiA (Central Clinical Hospital of Ministry of Internal Affaires) in Warsaw, Poland (1998–2014).

She believes that presence of anti-topoisomerse I antibodies in sera of patients with scleroderma represents a protective reaction to these abnormalities.

[6][7][8][9][10][11] The study on which Urszula Nowicka's doctoral thesis was based showed a mutation in the 3’ coding region of the topoisomerase gene in 56% of patients with anti-topo I – positive (Scl70-positive) systemic sclerosis.

Moreover, the studies evidenced that topoisomerase I inhibitor, camptothecin, down-regulates the expression of type I collagen in fibroblasts of scleroderma patients and yields immunosuppressive effects.

However, the findings related to the role of camptothecin and its potential therapeutical use were reaffirmed in the study by Zhang et al. conducted in patients with keloid.

[13] Another observation by Rudnicka and her co-workers, which may be potentially beneficial as far as managing systemic sclerosis is concerned, was abnormally high expression of prolactin in peripheral mononuclear cells obtained from patients.

Rudnicka is the organizer of a Polish nationwide campaign to promote prevention and early detection of melanoma (with dermoscopy and videodermoscopy).

[24] Clinical observations made by Rudnicka and her co-workers indicate the rationality of long-term low-dose antibiotic therapy in chronic inflammatory skin diseases: SLE and psoriasis.

She was one of the co-initiators to transform the Task Force into a Work Group (in 2017) to include a higher number of experts in the poster evaluation process.

In 2017 Rudnicka was one of the four founding members of the International Trichoscopy Society, together with Antonella Tosti, Rodrigo Pirmez and Daniel Asz Sigall.