Department of Dermatology

John J. Zone, M.D.

John J. Zone, M.D.

Chairman and Professor of Dermatology

  • B.S., 1967, University of Notre Dame
  • M.D., 1971, SUNY, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY.
  • Residency in Internal Medicine, 1971-1974, SUNY, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY
  • Chief Medical Resident, 1974-1975, SUNY Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, NY
  • Residency in Dermatology, 1975-1978, SUNY at Buffalo
  • Board Certification in Dermatology, Internal Medicine, Dermatological Immunology/Diagnostic and Laboratory Immunology

Leadership Role

  • Dr. Zone has been head of Dermatology at the University of Utah since 1987.  During that time the Department has achieved national recognition for its clinical programs as well as its basic and clinical research in diseases and cancer of the skin.
  • Since 1987 the full time faculty has grown from 5 to 28 members including the recruitment of faculty with special expertise in medical dermatology, skin surgery, dermatopathology, immunodermatology, psoriasis, melanoma, skin oncology, laser surgery, genetic epidemiology and allergy.
  • A residency program was created in 1990 and now includes 9 residents in dermatology.
  • The number of clinical care sites has increased from 2 to 9 and the number of outpatient visits has grown from 2,000 to 70,000.   This has provided a critical mass for the education and research missions and has allowed development of physician expertise in the entire spectrum of diseases and cancer of the skin.
  • He has nurtured and supported strong faculty research programs in psoriasis, bullous disease, melanoma, genetics of skin disease and genetic epidemiology.
  • Dr. Zone has maintained an active role in the leadership of the University of Utah School of Medicine and University Hospital.  He has served as the chairman of the Mission Based Management Committee since its inception in 1999. He also serves as chairman of the University Hospital and Clinics space committee.

Clinical and Research Interests

  • Dr. Zone's clinical practice involves primarily medical dermatology with special interests in disorders of the immune system including dermatitis herpetiformis, linear IgA bullous dermatosis, bullous pemphigoid,  pemphigus and celiac disease.
  • Dr. Zone has had a long-term interest in melanoma and was a member of the team that discovered p16, the melanoma risk gene.
  • Dr. Zone's research interests include the autoimmune blistering diseases and celiac disease.

Selected Publications (from over 130 peer reviewed publications and over 50 book chapters and reviews)

  • Zone JJ, Schmidt LA, Taylor TB, Hull CM, Sotiriou MC, Jaskowski TD, Hill HR, Meyer LJ. (2011). Dermatitis herpetiformis sera or goat anti-transglutaminase-3 transferred to human skin-grafted mice mimics dermatitis herpetiformis immunopathology. J Immunol, 186(7), 44747-80.
  • McCaughey C, Machan M, Bennett R, Zone JJ, Hull CM. (2010). Pimecrolimus 1% cream for oral erosive lichen planus: a 6-week randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study with a 6-week open-label extension to assess efficacy and safety. LID-10.1111/j.1468-3083.2010.03923.x [doi]. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. (Epub ahead of print).
  • Mao X, Nager AR, Farber SA, Choi EJ, Jackson LH, Leiferman KM, Ishii N, Hashimoto T, Amagai M, Zone JJ, Payne AS. (2010). Autoimmunity to desmocollin 3 in pemphigus vulgaris. Am J Pathol, 177(6), 2724-30.
  • Jaskowski TD, Donaldson MR, Hull CM, Wilson AR, Hill HR, Zone JJ, Book LS. (2010). Novel screening assay performance in pediatric celiac disease and adult dermatitis herpetiformis. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr, 51(1), 19-23.
  • Zone JJ. (2009). The value of desmoglein 1 and 3 antibody ELISA testing in patients with pemphigus. Arch Dermatol, 145(5), 585-7.
  • Jaskowski TD, Hamblin T, Wilson AR, Hill HR, Book LS, Meyer LJ, Zone JJ, Hull CM. (2009). IgA anti-epidermal transglutaminase antibodies in dermatitis herpetiformis and pediatric celiac disease. J Invest Dermatol, 129)11), 2728-30.
  • Panko J, Florell SR, Hadley J, Zone J, Leiferman K, Vanderhooft S. (2009). Neonatal pemphigus in an infant born to a mother with serologic evidence of both pemphigus vulgaris and gestational pemphigoid. J Am Acad Dermatol, 60(6), 1057-62.
  • Changler W, Zone J, Florell S. (2009). C4d immunohistochemical stain is a sensitive method to confirm immunoreactant deposition in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue in bullous pemphigoid. J Cutan Pathol, 36(6), 655-9.
  • Zone JJ (2009). The value of desmoglein 1 and 3 antibody ELISA testing in patients with pemphigus. Arch Dermatol. May;145(5):585-7.
  • Neuhausen SL, Steele L, Ryan S, Mousavi M, Pinto M, Osann KE, Flodman P, Zone JJ (2008). Co-occurrence of celiac disease and other autoimmune diseases in celiacs and their first-degree relatives. J autoimmun. Sep;31(2):160-5.
  • Hull CM, Liddle M, Hansen N, Meyer LJ, Schmidt L, Taylor T, Jaskowski TD, Hill HR, Zone JJ (2008). Elevation of IgA anti-epidermal transglutaminase antibodies in dermatitis herpetiformis. J Dermatol. Jul: 159(1): 120-4. 
  • Zone JJ, Taylor T, Hull C, Schmidt L, Meyer L. (2007). IgE Basement Membrane Zone Antibodies Induce Eosinophil Infiltration and Histological Blisters in Engrafted Human Skin on SCID Mice. J Invest Dermatol  2007: 127(5):1167-74.
  • Donaldson MR, Zone JJ, Schmidt LA, Taylor TB, Neuhausen SL, Hull CM, Meyer LJ. (2007). Epidermal Transglutaminase Deposits in Perilesional and Uninvolved Skin in Patients with Dermatitis Herpetiformis. J Invest Dermatol. 2007:127(5):1268-71
  • Donaldson MR, Firth SD, Wimpee H, Leiferman KM, Zone JJ, Horsley W, O'gorman MA, Jackson WD, Neuhausen SL, Hull CM, Book LS. Correlation of duodenal histology with tissue transglutaminase and endomysial antibody levels in pediatric celiac disease. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2007: 5(5), 567-73.
  • Zone JJ. Skin manifestations of celiac disease. Gastroenterology, 2005:128(4 Pt 2), S87-91.
  • Zone JJ, Egan CA, Taylor TB, Meyer LJ. IgA autoimmune disorders: development of a passive transfer mouse model. J Invest Dermatol Symp Proc 2004; 9(1), 47-51
  • Zone JJ. Clinical spectrum, pathogenesis and treatment of linear IgA bullous dermatosis. J of Dermatol 2001;28(11):651-653
  • Egan CA, Grant WJ, Morris SE, Saffle JR. Zone JJ. Plasmapheresis as an adjunct treatment in toxic epidermal necrolysis. J Am Acad Dermatol 1999 Mar;40(3):458-61
  • Zone JJ, Taylor TB, Meyer LJ, Petersen MJ. The 97 kDa linear IgA bullous disease antigen is identical to a portion of the extracellular domain of the180 kDa bullous pemphigoid antigen, BPAg2. J Invest Dermatol 1998 Mar;110(3):207-10
  •  Zone JJ, Meyer LJ, Petersen MJ. Deposition of granular IgA relative to clinical lesions in dermatitis herpetiformis. Arch Dermatol 1996 Aug; 132(8):912-18
  •  Book L, Zone JJ, Neuhausen SL. Prevalence of celiac disease among relatives of sib pairs with celiac disease in U.S. families. Am J Gastroenterol 2003; 98(2), 377-81
  • Zone JJ, Taylor TB, Kadunce DP, Chorzelski TP, Schachner LA, Huff JC, Meyer LJ. IgA antibodies in chronic bullous disease of childhood react with 97 kDa basement membrane zone protein. J Invest Dermatol 1996 Jun;106(6):1277-80
  • Tistani-Firouzi P, Petersen MJ, Saffle JR, Morris SE, Zone JJ. Treatment of toxic epidermal necroysis with intravenous immunoglobulin in children. J Am Acad Dermatol 2002; 47)4), 548-52
  • Kamb A, Shattuck-Eidens D, Eeles R, Liu Q, Gruis NA, Ding W, Hussey C, Tran T, Miki Y, Weaver-Feldhaus J, McClure M, Aitken JF, Anderson DE, Bergman W, Frants R, Goldgar DE, Green A, MacLennan R, Martin NG, Meyer LJ, Youl P, Zone JJ, Skolnick MH, Cannon-Albright LA. Analysis of the p16 gene (CDKN2) as a candidate for the chromosome 9p melanoma susceptibility locus. Nature Genetics 1994;8:22-26<!--[endif]-->
  • Cannon-Albright LA, Goldgar De, Meyer LJ, Lewis CM, Anderson DE, Fountain JW, Hegi ME, Wiseman RW, Petty EM, Bale AE, Olopade OI, Diaz MO, Kwiatkowski DJ, Piepkorn MW, Zone JJ, Skolnick MH. Assignment of a locus for familial melanoma MLM to chromosome 9p13-p22. Science, 1992:258, 1148-1152.
  • Zone JJ, LaSalle BA, Provost TT. Circulating immune complexes of IgA type in dermatitis herpetiformis. J Invest Dermatol 1980 Aug;75(2):152-55.

Dr. John Zone's Complete CV