Robert Auerbach was born in New York and has lived and practiced medicine there most of his life. He was one of the earliest Americans to perform hair transplantation, influenced by the active interest in this technique generated by Norman Orentreich's research in New York in the late 1950's.
Robert Auerbach graduated from New York University with a BA in chemistry, Magna Cum Laude, in 1954. He was also Phi Beta Kappa. He attended NYU School of Medicine, receiving his MD in 1958. He served as a subintern in neurology at Bellevue Hospital, followed by a mixed internship at Montefiore Hospital in Bronx, New York. He was then a resident in dermatology at the University of Chicago from 1959-1961.
Next he spent two years at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health at Bethesda, Maryland, as a clinical associate in dermatology, working closely with Eugene Van Scott. Following this, he entered private practice in New York, mixing this with a career in teaching and research. He was appointed an attending physician at the Skin and Cancer Unit of New York University School of Medicine, where he subsequently became a clinical professor.
Dr. Auerbach began doing hair transplantation in 1963 after he returned to New York and joined the practice of Norman Orentreich. At that time, this surgical technique was widely frowned upon by the academic community, as cosmetic endeavors were considered frivolous. Dr. Auerbach's academic credentials made hair transplantation more respectable.
Dr. Auerbach remembers many visitors at that time from all over the world. Those who visited warmly remember his generous teaching and inspiration. From France, came Patrick Rabineau who still remarks about Dr. Auerbach's kindness. From Canada came a young resident named Walter Unger, who Dr. Auerbach taught to perform hair transplantation. Thus he was responsible for launching the career of one of the most famous and well known hair transplant surgeons in the world.
Dr. Auerbach has been interested in the basic science of hair loss publishing an article with Dr. Van Scott entitled “Determinents of Rate and Kinetics of Division in Scalp Hair” in the Journal of Investigational Dermatology in 1963. He also worked with Dr. Orentreich on researching topical testosterone for hair loss (which they deemed a failure). He described gangrene of the scalp due to improper hair transplant technique in CUTIS in 1971. He was also quite active in psoriasis research, especially methotrexate therapy. To date, Dr. Auerbach has 39 articles published in the medical literature.
Active in organized medicine, he was a founding member of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) as well as the International Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ISDS). He has served on the board of directors of the New York State Dermatology Society and is a past president of the Dermatology Society of Greater New York who awarded him their Service Award.
Dr. Auerbach has been married to his wife Arleen for 39 years. She is a successful research geneticist at Rockefeller University. He has two married children. Steven is a pediatrician with the US Public Health Service and Laura, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan. He is a voracious reader, both medical and nonmedical and enjoys theater going.
- Copyright © 1997 by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery