Howard Welgus

Dr. Welgus was Chief Medical Officer of Arcutis from 2016 to July 2020, when he retired and was appointed to the Board of Directors. He is a board-certified dermatologist who received his medical and scientific training at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After completing a residency in Dermatology, he stayed on faculty at Washington University for 17 years, becoming a tenured full Professor and publishing over 120 articles.

Dr. Welgus joined Pfizer in 1999, where he spent 10 years as VP and head of the Dermatology and Inflammation therapeutic areas at the Ann Arbor site. During this time, he was involved in developing Lyrica® for fibromyalgia and Xeljanz® for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. He then spent 3 years at Nycomed as Chief Medical Officer and head of R&D, and then was Chief Medical Officer at Verrica Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Welgus is a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and is a member of several prestigious medical societies including the American Dermatologic Association, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Professors. He received his B.A. in Biology from Rice University.