Arturo P. Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D served as dean of the VCU School of Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs for the VCU Health System for two and a half years before serving as Provost. He specializes in the diagnosis and care of complex medical dermatology and is considered one of the national experts in the care, management and immunopathology of Graft-versus-host disease.

He came to VCU from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where he was the Kenneth E. Greer Endowed Professor and Chair in Dermatology and the President and interim Chief Executive Officer for the University Physicians’ Group. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Biological Sciences, Dr. Saavedra received a combined medical and doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with specialized training in pharmacology. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was also Chief Resident. He graduated from the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program and completed his fellowship in Dermatopathology.

Saavedra is an editor of Fitzpatrick’s Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology and is the past president (and inaugural president) for the Virginia Dermatology Society. He is currently the president-elect of the Board of the Medical Dermatology Society and the Treasurer of the American Professors of Dermatology.