Temple Has an Itch Center, Apparently
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In case you missed this tickle of a tidbit in the Inquirer recently, there’s a newly minted Itch Center at Temple University School of Medicine, solely dedicated to—you guessed it—studying itches. It’s helmed by itch-obsessed dermatologist Gil Yosipovitch (and, no, the ironic fact that the word “itch” comes at the end of his name is not lost on him), who joined Temple’s payroll in September.
Did you know itches can go beyond skin-level annoyance? Listen to this:
A recent German study suggests that for 17 percent of adults, itch is an intractable, life-disrupting sensation caused by skin disorders, kidney and liver disease, diabetes, lymphoma, HIV, and nerve damage.
These chronic types of “pruritus,” as doctors call itch, are not only barely understood, but existing treatments often are barely effective, Yosipovitch wrote recently in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Yosipovitch – who jokes that even his name has an itch – envisions the Itch Center as a broad collaboration with researchers in basic, medical, and behavioral sciences.
Very cool! Read more about how Philly could lead the way on itch research here.
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