Wilson Liao, MD

Dr. Liao is Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the UCSF Department of Dermatology. He serves as Director of the UCSF Psoriasis and Skin Treatment Center and is deeply engaged in patient care, clinical trials, and basic science research. The Liao laboratory studies the genetics and environmental triggers of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and hidradenitis suppurativa.

Dr. Liao directs the UCSF Psoriasis Research Initiative and Biobank with over 1,500 subjects, which is used for genetic and translational research studies. The Liao lab has contributed to the identification over 30 risk variants in psoriasis, including a deletion of the late cornified envelope genes, common variants in UBE2L3 and SH2B3, copy number changes in KIR2DL2, KIR3DS1, and NKG2C, and rare variants in IFIH1 and CARD14. Current projects include the identification of psoriasis and hidradenitis causal variants through genetic mapping and functional genomics, elucidation of inflammatory disease pathways through single cell transcriptional and immunoprofiling technologies, and development of precision medicine approaches.