OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
Thursday, March 5, 2020 • 9
LIFE
National Psoriasis Foundation Recognizes Krell for Volunteerism
By Emily Williams This April, Total Skin & Beauty’s Dr. James M. Krell will be honored not only for his dedication to treating patients with psoriatic disease, but for using his knowledge in medicine to give back to the Birmingham community. Krill will be honored as National Psoriasis Foundation’s 2020 Health Professional Volunteer of the Year on April 3 at the foundation’s signature fundraising event “Pstamp Out Psoriatic Disease,” to be held at B&A Warehouse. “Volunteerism has always been important in my life,” he said. “When I was a young child, both my parents were big volunteers and I remember working with my mother and siblings on projects that raised money for a variety of causes.” He and his wife have passed that same dedication to their three children, adding volunteer projects to all of their family trips and regularly dedicating time to helping out at local soup kitchens. Even international trips – to Costa Rica, Laos, Senegal and Israel – have included at least a halfday to a day of volunteering. Krell’s experiences while giving back often stick with him. As a founding board member of Ramah Darom, a Jewish summer camp in North Georgia, Krell spent a week each summer as camp doctor
Advances in Treating Psoriasis for 18 years When Krell graduated from “The most memorable and greatest learning experience is when our camp Harvard Medical School in 1989, he was one of about five or six in his was infected extensively with the class who planned to specialize in derH1N1 ‘swine flu’ in 2009,” he said. matology. “We learned much from our need to It wasn’t a “hugely quarantine the infected popular” field at the time, children and still run a but over the past 15 years productive camp for them. or so, it has become far It was crazy, but it all more competitive. worked out fine and the Many are attracted to virus turned out not to be the good working hours so bad after all.” and high-income areas – Krell also is a past such as cosmetics, Krell president of the N.E. said. He, on the other hand, Miles Jewish Day School, is among the minority who Temple Beth El, and the Dr. James M. Krell are more excited about the Temple Beth El general medical side of the Foundation boards, as field. well as serving on the boards of At Total Skin, one of Krell’s focusJewish Family Services and the es is psoriasis, a very common skin Levite Jewish Community Center. condition that causes skin cells to mulVolunteerism is absolutely crucial, tiply faster than normal – resulting in Krell said. As such, the recent recogdry, itchy patches visible on the skin. nition from the NPF is dear to him. The disorder affects approximately “I have always raised money for 2% to 3% of the population, according important causes and tried to find to the National Psoriasis Foundation – ways to help my fellow human more than 8 million Americans. beings, either with my time or with During his residency at Emory my financial resources,” he said. University, Krell treated patients who “Repairing the world – that is how I were hospitalized with moderate to and my family look at life and will severe psoriasis twice a day with ointcontinue to do so.” ments and phototherapy. Just as he volunteers his time to “There were not very many systemhelp others, he spends his days on the job trying to make the world a bit bet- ic medications to use at that time and all of them, still available today, had, ter for his patients. and still have, side effects related to
their general immunosuppression,” he said. When Krell moved to Birmingham in 1993, the practice he joined used only a topical cream on psoriasis patients. “I immediately added a phototherapy unit, one of the safest and most effective treatments at the time for psoriasis patients,” he said. He then incorporated new psoriasis medications into the practice, and later he delved into clinical trials to introduce new medications to patients. “Since then, I have done dozens of clinical trials on psoriasis medications and continue to do so today,” he said. “It is a significant part of my practice.” In addition to authoring numerous articles, giving lectures and speaking engagements focused on the area of psoriasis, he has been an investigator in multiple phase II, III and IV clinical trials. “The problem is that there have been several studies, the most recent called the Multinational Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis study, that showed that many of the patients with moderate to severe psoriasis are still being treated with topical therapy only,” Krell said. The study also found that out of 139,000 households across seven countries, 3,400 had a member of the family with psoriasis. “The medications are so good and safe now, so much so that all patients with moderate to severe psoriasis
should really be treated with systemic medication,” Krell said. Psoriasis is associated with other conditions such as psoriatic arthritis and depression. There is a high suicide rate among psoriasis patients, Krell noted. “It’s no wonder,” he said. “Patients have a widespread disease and for years they see doctors who give them little tubes of cream for widespread psoriasis. “I have had at least one patient who tried to commit suicide, prior to seeing me,” he said. “And I promised the patient I would be aggressive and clear their psoriasis. That patient did clear up on biologic therapy and stayed clear for years but subsequently died from lymphoma,” which is another disease connected with psoriasis. There are currently 11 biologic therapies, injections that can often be administered at home, that have revolutionized Krell’s ability to treat his patients. More are on the horizon, but Krell said that even now, he is able to tell a patient that it is likely their psoriasis will clear no matter the severity. In addition to celebrating Krell, guests at the Pstamp Out Psoriasis event will have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction and bingo to learn more about the NPF and its mission to aid efforts to cure psoriatic disease and improve patients’ lives. For more information, visit npf. donordrive.com.
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