Arturo Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D.

Arturo P. Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., joined the MCV Foundation board in 2025.

Dr. Saavedra has served as dean of the VCU School of Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs for the VCU Health System since April 2023.

He came to VCU from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where he was the Kenneth E. Greer Endowed Professor and Chair in Dermatology and the President and interim Chief Executive Officer for the University Physicians’ Group. 

Prior to UVA, Dr. Saavedra was Quality Chair for the Dermatology Department at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and was later asked to serve as the Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs and Medical Director in the Department of Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. 

He specializes in the diagnosis and care of complex medical dermatology and is considered one of the national experts in the care, management and immunopathology of Graft-versus-host disease. 

After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College with a degree in Biological Sciences, Dr. Saavedra received a combined medical and doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with specialized training in pharmacology. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was also Chief Resident. He graduated from the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program and completed his fellowship in Dermatopathology. He also earned an M.B.A. from the Babson College Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Saavedra is an editor of Fitzpatrick’s Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology, one of the most widely read dermatology atlases for diagnosis and treatment of skin conditions nationally and abroad. He has performed funded research, and he is the past president (and inaugural president) for the Virginia Dermatology Society. He is currently the president-elect of the Board of the Medical Dermatology Society and the Treasurer of the American Professors of Dermatology.