Irene E. Kochevar papers

Irene E. (Irene Emily) Kochevar, B.S., 1965, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; M.S., 1967, Michigan State University; Ph.D., 1970, Michigan State University, is Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and Biochemist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Irene Emily (Hejl) Kochevar was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1943. She graduated from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, with a B.S. in biochemistry in 1965, an M.S. in biochemistry in 1967, and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1970. After work as a Research Chemist at Union Carbide Corporation, in Bound Book, New Jersey (1971-1973), research and teaching at Columbia University, New York City, New York (1973-1975, 1977-1981), and postdoctoral National Institutes of Health fellowships at New York University, New York City, New York (1970-1971) and Columbia (1975-1977), Kochevar was appointed Assistant Professor of Dermatological Biochemistry at Columbia. In 1981, she was appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, where she earned the rank of Professor in 1999. She has held simultaneous appointments at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 1981. Her other appointments include a one year term as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry at University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut (1986-1987); Associate Professor in the Division of Health Sciences & Technology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1988-1999); and Associated Faculty at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Technology Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005-probably 2014). Kochevar has received National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense grant awards for her research. She has also done consulting work for cosmetics companies, including Procter & Gamble and Estée Lauder; and for a laboratory at Muro Pharmaceuticals in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

Kochevar’s research has focused on the study of the photochemical and cell biological effects of ultraviolet light on the skin. Her process for photochemical tissue bonding involves using ultraviolet light to activate a dye that stimulates cross-linking of proteins, which Kochevar describes as "nanosutures." This technique has been used to close skin incisions and to heal corneal injuries. Kochevar served as Associate Editor for the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology (1983-1993) and later as Editor-in-Chief of the same publication (1994-1998), and as Associate Editor for Photodermatology, Photoimmunology, Photomedicine (1990-1999). She was also an organizing member of The Photomedicine Society, and served as Vice President of the Association Internationale de Photobiologie (1988-1992), President of the American Society for Photobiology (1986), and Board of Directors member of the Inter-American Photochemical Society (1998-2002). She served on the "General Medicine A" committee of the National Institutes of Health's Center for Scientific Review from 1997 to 2001, as well as on several other grant review committees and scientific advisory boards. Kochevar holds three patents for photochemical tissue bonding (7, 073,520; 8,092,490; and 8,215,314), with colleagues Robert Redmond, Barbara Chan, and others, for The General Hospital Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts. She has received numerous awards, including the American Society for Photobiology’s Photon Award in 1997 for service to the American Society for Photobiology; a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995; and other fellowships in chemistry early in her career.