Rossitza Lazova, MD

Director of Dermatopathology

California Skin Institute

Dr. Rossitza Lazova completed a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York and trained in Dermatopathology with Dr. A. Bernard Ackerman at the Institute for Dermatopathology at Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. After completion of her fellowship she started her academic career at the Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, where she spent almost 20 years.

Dr. Lazova is well known worldwide in the field of Dermatopathology.  She has published numerous articles in peer – reviewed journals and chapters in books.  She is also a co–author of two textbooks. Dr. Lazova main interest is in melanocytic lesions and particularly Spitzoid neoplasms. She has done and continues to do ground breaking research in this area applying mass spectrometry as an ancillary diagnostic test and conducting genomic studies of Spitz nevi and Spitzoid malignant melanomas as well as other types of melanomas and nevi.

Dr. Lazova has held many leadership positions including a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Dermatopathology (ASDP), chair of the Membership Committee and chair of the Mentorship Committee of the ASDP. She is the past Vice President of the International Society of Dermatopathology (ISDP), and current chair of the Travel Award Committee and member of the Executive Committee of the ISDP.

Dr. Lazova has taught many courses and directed numerous sessions at national and international meetings in the USA and throughout the world. She is on the editorial board of many prestigious journals. She has been a Director of the Dermatopathology Fellowship at Yale University for fourteen years, where she has trained many fellows and residents. She has developed an international program and has mentored over fifty physicians from twenty-three countries and four continents.