Wilma Bergfeld, MD

Wilma Fowler Bergfeld, MD, FACP is Emeritus Director, and past Director and Co-Director of Dermatopathology, Departments of Dermatology and Pathology and Senior Staff Dermatologist Dermatological Research in the Department of Dermatology, Cleveland Clinic. She also is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Dermatopathology Fellowship and Professor of Dermatology and Pathology, Cleveland Clinic Educational Foundation and Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University. She has served as a consultant to the Department of Sports Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Bergfeld’s specialty interests include clinical dermatology (hair disorders, androgen excess, photo aging, and cosmetic dermatology) and dermatopathology.

Dr Bergfeld completed her undergraduate work at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She did her dermatology residency at Cleveland Clinic and her Dermatopathology fellowship at Armed Forces of Pathology in Washington DC. She joined the Cleveland Clinic in 1969 as a Clinical Dermatologist, Department of Dermatology and later, after the AFIP Dermatopathology Fellowship in 1972, she was appointed as Head (1977-2007), Dermatopathology, Department of Pathology and in 2007 Co-Director of Dermatopathology, Departments of Dermatology and Pathology and in 2015 Emeritus Director . She has been the Director, Cleveland Clinic’s Dermatopathology fellowship since 1975.

Dr. Bergfeld is a former chair and currently consultant to the FDA Dermatology and Ophthalmology Advisory Committee (1972-current) and a consultant to the Devise advisory committee (2009-current). She is the President elect 2019 American Dermatologic Association,  immediate past President of North American Hair Research Society (2011-2016) and Director, World Congress of Hair Research2015 Miami, Co-Director, American Hair Research Society Summit 2018, and past 2008-9 President of the American Society of Dermatopathology, 1992 President of The American Academy of Dermatology and past President of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Cleveland Dermatology Society, the Ohio Dermatological Association, and the Women's Dermatological Society.  She has served on the Cleveland Clinic’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees (1992-97), and was the President of the Cleveland Clinic Staff (1990).

Since 1977, she has been a member and the Chair (1990-current) of the Cosmetic Ingredient Expert Panel, an expert panel that determines the safety of cosmetic ingredients. She holds an honorary membership in the American Academy of Dermatology, Women’s Dermatology Society, the Cleveland Dermatology Society, Ohio Dermatological Society, Pacific Dermatologic Association the Canadian Dermatology Society and the Italian Dermatology Society.

In 1996, she received the Women's Dermatological Association Rose Hirschler Award honoring an outstanding physician who has contributed to medicine and dermatology while enhancing the role of women in the Dermatology. She is also the recipient of the American Academy of Dermatology's prestigious Marion B. Sulzberger Award in 1997 and AAD Golden Triangle Award 2000 for Community Service. In 2000, she was the first recipient of the Wilma F Bergfeld MD Leadership Award, awarded by the Women’s Dermatology Society. In 2005, the Cleveland Academy of Medicine honored her the “John Budd, MD, Distinguished Member Award. The American Society Dermatopathology in 2007 awarded her the prestige’s “Founders Award” and she was elected 2009 President of the American Society of Dermatopathology. In 2008 she was awarded Maria Duran leadership award and medal by the International Society of Dermatology and in 2010; she received the Samuel J Zakon Dermatology History Award from the Dermatology History Society. The American Academy of Dermatology awarded her 2012 Master of Dermatology Award. In 2014, she received the Elston B. Helwig MD, Memorial Award and Lectureship from American Society of Dermatopathology.

Her American Academy of Dermatology volunteer activities have included: Chair, Council of Communications and longtime member of the communications committee, original member and long term member of “Dialogues in Dermatology,” Chair of the Scientific Council (annual meeting committee), Chair of the Volunteer Circle: “Members Making a Difference.” She has also served on several AAD and Women’s Dermatology Society Visionary Committees. Dr Bergfeld has received many AAD Presidential citations that have included Leadership in AAD Communications and The Volunteer Circle. Since 1995, she has been cited in “Best Doctors in America,” “Top Doctors,” “Top Pathologist,” and in numerous Who’s Who publications.

Dr Bergfeld is the author of over 632 publications, 4 books and 82 book chapters. She has served on many editorial journal boards and has been a reviewer in the both her professional fields of clinical dermatology and dermatopathology. Other activities include consultant/scientific adviser to many pharmaceutical companies.

On a personal note, Dr Bergfeld is married to John A Bergfeld MD, an internationally known Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgeon at Cleveland Clinic. She is the mother of two daughters, Onee Bergfeld Lowe (deceased) and Sigrid Bergfeld Grieco and grandmother to five granddaughters.

Wilma F Bergfeld MD Professor of Dermatology and Pathology, Senior Dermatologist, Emeritus Director, Dermatopathology, Director-Dermatopathology Fellowship, Departments of Dermatology & Pathology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid, Cleveland, Ohio 44195E-mail: bergfew@ccf.org:  Phone: 216-444-5722:  Fax: 216-231-5448