XP Medical Advisors

Dr. James Cleaver Ph.D., San Francisco, CA -Dr. Cleaver gained his BA (1961) and Ph.D. (1964) in the University of Cambridge, England. He spent two years as a postdoctoral student at Harvard, and joined the faculty of UCSF in 1966 in the Laboratory of Radiobiology and Environmental Health, and became the research director. He discovered that the basis of xeroderma pigmentosum was a DNA repair deficiency in 1968, and has worked on this and related diseases ever since. He was granted Emeritus status at UCSF in January 2004, but continues to carry out research. His appointments as Professor are held in the Departments of Dermatology and of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and he is a member of the UCSF Cancer Center.


W. Clark Lambert, M.D., Ph.D., received a B.A. (Chemistry) in 1964 from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT and a Ph.D. (Experimental Pathology) and M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, in 1969 and 1970, respectively. Following an internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY he was a Staff Fellow (Surgeon (04), U.S. Public Health Service) in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (1971-1973). He completed a residency in Pathology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in 1974 and in Dermatology at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1976. He has subsequently been on the faculty of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, where he is Professor of Dermatology, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Pathology. Dr. Lambert is board certified in Dermatology and in Laboratory and Diagnostic Immunology by the American Board of Dermatology, in Pathology by the American Board of Pathology, and in Dermatopathology by both boards.

Dr Lambert is an internationally recognized authority in medical dermatology, especially in the diagnosis and management of several types of skin cancer and of xeroderma pigmentosum and other DNA repair-deficient genodermatoses. He has also published innovative research in human cell culture biology, including delineation of cell cycle control deficiencies in genetic and neurodegeneratively diseased cells. Dr. Lambert is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sheard-Sanford Award of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, direct appointment as Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1991, and election into the American Dermatological Association in 1993. He is the author of hundreds of book chapters/articles in refereed journals, has edited two books and has served as an editor and/or on the editorial board of several leading medical journals.

Learn more about Dr. Lambert’s research at his website: http://www.umdnj.edu/gpthnweb/clambert.html


Dr. Bari Cunningham, medical advisor, earned her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, where she graduated cum laude. Her postgraduate training included a residency in dermatology at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University Medical School. She completed her fellowship training in pediatric dermatology at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University in Chicago. Dr. Cunningham served as chief resident at Northwestern University Medical School and was a recipient of the Johnson and Johnson Fellowship in Pediatric Dermatology. Her clinical interests include pediatric dermatologic surgery and laser therapy, treatment of birthmarks including congenital nevi, port wine stains, hemangiomas, and nevus sebaceous. She is the author of over 40 publications and book chapters. Notable titles include “Laser Therapy and Dermatologic Surgery” in Current Opinion in Pediatrics, and “Pediatric Dermatologic Procedures: Pain Control” in Current Problems in Dermatology.

Active in pediatric research, Dr. Cunningham is involved in numerous pediatric clinical trials including novel forms of topical anesthetic agents for pediatric use, methods of skin closure following cutaneous surgery in infants and children and safety of general anesthesia in pediatric dermatologic surgery. Dr. Cunningham is on several editorial review and advisory boards including the Xeroderma Pigmentosum Task Force, The Foundation Icthyosis and Related Skin Types (FIRST) Medical Advisory Board, Pediatric Dermatology Editorial Board. Dr Cunningham is coeditor of the Techniques for Tots section of the journal Pediatric Dermatology. She is an active reviewer for the following medical publications including Pediatrics, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Pediatric Dermatology, etc. She was recognized as one of the Top Doctors in Dermatology in 2002 and was awarded the prestigious Best Doctors award in 2005 for one of the best physicians in America.