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 half-day 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 for 18 years
“The most memorable and greatest learning experience is when our camp was infected extensively with the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ in 2009,” he said. “We learned much from our need to quarantine the infected children and still run a productive camp for them. It was crazy, but it all worked out fine and the virus turned out not to be so bad after all.”
Krell also is a past president of the N.E. Miles Jewish Day School, Temple Beth El, and the Temple Beth El Foundation boards, as well as serving on the boards of Jewish Family Services and the Levite Jewish Community Center.
Volunteerism is absolutely crucial, Krell said. As such, the recent recognition from the NPF is dear to him.
“I have always raised money for important causes and tried to find ways to help my fellow human beings, either with my time or with my financial resources,” he said. “Repairing the world – that is how I and my family look at life and will continue to do so.”
Just as he volunteers his time to help others, he spends his days on the job trying to make the world a bit better for his patients.
Advances in Treating Psoriasis
When Krell graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1989, he was one of about five or six in his class who planned to specialize in dermatology.
It wasn’t a “hugely popular” field at the time, but over the past 15 years or so, it has become far more competitive.
Many are attracted to the good working hours and high-income areas – such as cosmetics, Krell said. He, on the other hand, is among the minority who are more excited about the general medical side of the field.
At Total Skin, one of Krell’s focuses is psoriasis, a very common skin condition that causes skin cells to multiply faster than normal – resulting in dry, itchy patches visible on the skin.
The disorder affects approximately 2% to 3% of the population, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation – more than 8 million Americans.
During his residency at Emory University, Krell treated patients who were hospitalized with moderate to severe psoriasis twice a day with ointments and phototherapy.
“There were not very many systemic medications to use at that time and all of them, still available today, had, 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.
