Scott W. Binder, M.D.
Dr. Scott Binder is the Pritzker Professor & Vice Chair; Director, Pathology Clinical Services; Chief, Dermatopathology at UCLA Health.
Dr. Binder directs and oversees all of the clinical and anatomic laboratories, the Autopsy Service, the Biomarker Innovations Laboratory, the Cytogenetics Laboratory, the Molecular Pathology Laboratory and the Clinical Genomics Laboratory. He works closely with the Directors of Laboratory Medicine and Anatomic Pathology as well as the faculty directors in each area.
Dr. Binder is a nationally and internationally known dermatopathologist with one of the largest consultative practices in the country. He receives more than 6,000 second opinion consults on difficult and challenging cases in dermatopathology from academic institutions, reference laboratories and community pathology groups from all over the country as well as international cases from Greece, China, and Korea.
As the founder of the Dermatopathology Fellowship program at Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Dr. Binder was the fellowship director from its inception in 2002 to 2013. He has designed and implemented the content of the curriculum and has written the goals and objectives as well as the fellowship competencies. The fellowship has become one of the most sought-after fellowship programs in the country and has received hundreds of applications, both national and international, for the three fellowship positions. The fellowship received in 2010 the maximum time for re-accreditation, five years, from the ACGME.
Dr. Binder is frequently invited to give keynote talks at the most prestigious dermatopathology meetings, including the annual American Society of Dermatopathology meeting and the American Academy of Dermatology meeting. He receives many invited lectureships, and is regularly invited to speak and give grand rounds at universities within California and across the country.
Research Interest
The focus of Dr. Binder’s research program is telemedicine/telepathology. Most recently, he received a 10.4 million dollar grant from the State of California to provide telepathology subspecialty services for underserved pathology departments and hospitals statewide.
Dr. Binder has devoted a great deal of time to research in the molecular signatures of tumors with an emphasis on using unique gene expressions to diagnose and prognosticate various dermatologic neoplasms. His working team has won two Stowell-Orbison awards at USCAP, two years in a row. The first award concerned the use of gene signatures using microarray technology to characterize cellular neurothekeomas of the skin. The second award was based on a study which compared metastases of melanoma with their primaries and shed light upon which genes may be important in predicting which melanomas will metastasize to sentinel lymph nodes, and thus, which melanomas may demonstrate a worse clinical prognosis.
China Experience
Dr. Binder has given many talks in China, where he was inducted to the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Most recently, Dr. Binder returned from China where he engaged in discussions with the Second Affiliated Hospital and two commercial Chinese labs to greatly expand the existing telepathology relationship with the Chinese.
Dr. Binder was introduced to a Chinese environmental testing company, CTI, which wanted to expand into medical laboratory testing. Since then, Dr. Binder and the partners have planned a lab in Shanghai China, which will specialize in esoteric testing for clinical trials and clinical work for Chinese hospitals and other less advanced labs. The lab building, approximately 25,000 sq. ft., is being outfitted in Shanghai, and the choice of instrumentation and technologists is well underway. This lab should greatly elevate the quality of care for patients and doctors in China, and has served as an excellent springboard for learning how business is conducted in China.