kevin mcelwee

Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 2004-Current
Senior Scientist, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany, 1999-2003
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA, 1996-1999
Ph.D. (Cell Biology), University of Dundee, Scotland, 1996
B.Sc. Hons. (Cell and Immunobiology - Zoology), University of Aberdeen, Scotland, 1992

Since my student days, I have focused almost exclusively on hair research. A Bachelor of Science degree awarded by the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in cell and immunobiology (Zoology), provided an excellent background for hair research. For my Ph.D. I studied the suspected autoimmune hair loss disease alopecia areata at the University of Dundee, Scotland. My postdoctoral training encompassed three years at the Jackson Laboratory in Maine, USA, and four years at the University of Marburg, Germany, studying various hair loss models. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. My current research program is focused on the many diverse roles of the hair follicle in cutaneous disease and tissue regeneration. Alopecia areata research continues to be a key theme, but more recent work has focused on hair follicle derived cell growth factors in hair follicle cycling and disease development, hair follicle associated neoplasias particularly basal cell carcinomas, and the hair follicle inductive behavior of hair follicle derived mesenchymal cells (follicular neogenesis).

I have over 50 peer reviewed publications in professional scientific and medical journals and more than ten book chapters in academic books on hair biology and immunology. In addition, I have published several web sites on hair and hair loss.