Congratulations to the 2026 Walter R. Nickel Award Recipient
Christine J. Ko, MD
Professor of Dermatology and Pathology
Yale University
Christine J. Ko, MD is a Professor of Dermatology and Pathology at Yale University. She is board certified in dermatology with a specialty certificate in dermatopathology. Her research interests include squamous cell carcinoma and keratoacanthoma, clinicopathologic correlation of skin disease, and optimizing diagnosis. Dr. Ko received her AB at Princeton University and MD from New York University School of Medicine. She completed her internship in internal medicine at UCLA, her dermatology residency at University of California, Irvine, and her dermatopathology fellowship at UCLA. She has published numerous articles and chapters in dermatology and dermatopathology and is the creative mind behind Dermatology: Visual Recognition and Case Reviews and Dermatopathology: Diagnosis by First Impression. Other books that she has authored or edited include Dermatopathology (Elston and Ferringer), Dermatology Essentials (Bolognia, Schaffer, Duncan, Ko), and Neoplastic Dermatopathology (Cassarino and Ko). She is an Associate Editor for JAMA Dermatology and serves on the Board of the American Board of Dermatology. As an authority in dermatology, she has authored chapters on the skin in Goldman-Cecil Medicine, Brenner and Rector’s The Kidney, and Braunwald’s Heart Disease. Her first book for the general audience, How to Improve Doctor-Patient Connection: Using Psychology to Optimize Healthcare Interactions, was inspired and driven by her own experience as the mother of a patient whose condition went undiagnosed for longer than it should have. Dr. Ko was a Public Voices Fellow through The OpEd Project and has written opinion pieces for outlets including USA Today, Medium, and Visible Magazine. She also hosts a podcast, The Girl Doc Survival Guide.