EACH YEAR, the Annual Trainee Award is given to the dermatology residentor fellow who was the first author for a research article appearing in theARCHIVES during the past year and judged most meritorious by the selectioncommittee. The recipient of the award is given a certificate of commendation,$100, and a copy of The Art of JAMA II.1
The awardee for 2000 (November 1999-October 2000) is Enno Schmidt, MD,for his article titled "Serum Levels of Autoantibodies to BP180 CorrelateWith Disease Activity in Patients With Bullous Pemphigoid," coauthored byKarin Obe, Eva-Bettina Bröcker, MD, and Detlef Zillikens, MD.2 Indirect immunofluorescence performed with serum samplesfrom patients with bullous pemphigoid reflects reactivity to both BP180 andBP230 antigens. By studying serum samples from 15 patients using an enzyme-linkedimmunosorbent assay specific for antibodies to BP180, the authors were ableto demonstrate that the level of disease activity correlates well with thelevel of serum antibodies to BP180. The work has important implications formanagement of bullous pemphigoid. Dr Schmidt, who has published widely inthe field of immunodermatology, performed this work while a trainee with DrZillikens in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Wurzburg inGermany.