A Fortunate Man

On a brilliantly colored October 17, 2025, I drove from Williamstown, Massachusetts to visit the eminent dermatologist, Dr. Al Kopf, who I first knew as a third year NYU medical student in 1968. Even then, he was a highly regarded dermatologist, one of the world’s experts on skin cancer. I remember him always wearing a dark suit and being in constant motion, trailed by attentive medical students, residents, and fellows. The dermatology department at NYU’s Skin and Cancer service had a weekly conference where interesting and challenging patients were presented, and Dr. Kopf stood out as being the the alpha dermatologists in that group.

Decades passed. Kopf was one of the earliest adopters of the dermatoscope. PubMed lists 351 articles authored or co-authored by “Kopf AW.” Today, at 99, he and Dottie, his wife of 75 years. live a quiet life on the idyllic shores of Lake George, New York. I visited him with Tucker Slingerland, his family doctor, who I have known since he was a freshman at Williams College in 1993. It almost seemed as if Tucker was his son when he and Dr Kopf interacted. Dylan Thomas felt that we “should not go gentle into that good night1,” but someone like Dr. Kopf has accomplished so much and fought so many battles over the years that he will likely go gentle into that good night with apparently few or no regrets.

On my October visit, I brought along Katherine, at Williams College senior who hopes to become a dermatologist. She had been in my office the day before when we saw an 85-year-old retired neurosurgeon, who was concerned about a new pigmented lesion on his right knee. Clinically and dermoscopically it was worrisome, so we excsted in my office. Katherine related this case, her first clinical presentation, to Dr. Kopf. Here was a woman more than 75 years his junior, who plans to enter his medical specialty, presenting a patient with a possible melanoma to the man who introduced dermoscopy to the United States, maybe 50 years ago.

Katherine asked him how he got started in dermatology and he told us about his mentor, Dr. Marion Sulzberger, who I remember meeting and having a chat with on First Avenue in New York City outside of NYU University Hospital about 50 years ago. Sultzberg had been the dean of American dermatology and it was he who lit the fire for dermatology in a young Al Kopf 70 or so years ago. So the line goes from Sultzberg to Kopf, to me and then maybe Katherine, who will be entering medical school in the summer of 2026.

There have been seismic changes in our specialty over the past five decades. When Dr. Kopf entered the field, dermatologists were not primarily interested in skin cancer. We had to deal with life-threatening diseases, such as pemphigus vulgaris, that, before systemic corticosteroids were often fatal. We’ve come a long way, and now there are many dermatological subspecialties. Dermatology, until the last few decades was not a glamorous specialty. But today it’s one of the most sought after residencies; a so-called lifestyle, specialty, called “ROAD” (radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesia, dermatology).2

Al Kopf is one of the most impressive figures in our specialty’s pantheon. Today, he is content, like John Anderson3 to enjoy the peace that surpasseth understanding.