Martin Alan Menter, MD: a conversation with the editor

M. Alan Menter, MD, and William C. Roberts, MD

From the Division of Dermatology, Department of Internal Medicine (Menter) and the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute (Roberts), Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

Corresponding author: M. Alan Menter, MD, 5310 Harvest Hill Road, Suite 260, Dallas, Texas 75230.

Alan Menter was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, on October 30, 1941. In 1946, he moved to South Africa, where his father grew up and to where his Irish mother immigrated. In public school he was both a top student and a top athlete. At age 17, he went to the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to study engineering, but after 2 years he switched to the school of medicine in the same university. During his 6 years in medical school, he captained the University of Witwatersrand rugby team, and in 1968 he became a Springbok, a member of the South African national rugby team, which was the top-ranked team in the world. The following year he captained the rugby team at the University of Pretoria.

His internship was in medicine and in surgery and, after an additional 6 months as a registrar in the Department of Medicine of Johannesburg General Hospital, he and his young wife moved to Pretoria, South Africa, where he was a resident in dermatology for 3 1/2 years. Thereafter, he went to London, England, to Guy's Hospital and the St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin for a 20-month fellowship before returning to Pretoria, South Africa. After 19 months in Pretoria as a member of the faculty of the University of Pretoria, as a dermatologist at the Leprosy Institute, and as a dermatologist in private practice, he and his family immigrated to the USA and Dallas, Texas, in August 1975, where he has been ever since.

Although Dr. Menter has been primarily in private practice since arriving in Dallas, he has nevertheless continued his research investigations, which have resulted in the publication of 118 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals and 10 chapters in various books. Dr. Menter started the psoriasis center at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) and was its medical director from 1979 until 1999. Since 1992, he has been chairman of the Division of Dermatology at BUMC. He has been on the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UT Southwestern) (where he completed his second fellowship) since arriving in Dallas and has been clinical professor of dermatology there since 1996. His colleagues have honored him by electing him president of the Texas Dermatological Society, president of the Dallas Dermatological Society, president of the Dermatological Therapy Association, and a board member of the American Academy of Dermatology. He has been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, the Journal of Clinical Dermatology, and Specialist Medicine–Dermatology. Dr. Menter has been elected one of the top doctors in the USA (1994–2000) and is in Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare in the USA. Dr. Menter has been a force at BUMC almost since his arrival in Dallas just over 27 years ago. He and his wife, Pam, are the proud parents of 3 offspring. Additionally, he is a wonderful human being who brings great honor to BUMC.