Dr. Kaplan is a physician-scientist practicing dermatology and conducting basic immunology research at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his MD and PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Schreiber. He completed his internal medicine internship at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and dermatology residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. During his post-doctoral fellowship he worked with Drs. Warren and Mark Shlomchik at Yale University. His laboratory initially at the University of Minnesota and more recently in Pittsburgh focuses on the function of skin-resident cells in determining the extent and character of skin inflammation. The laboratory has worked on the specific contribution of epidermal Langerhans cells vs. dermal dendritic cells in the development of adaptive T cell as well as local innate immune responses. This work has recently been extended to explore the regulation of local immunity in the skin by non-immune cell types such as keratinocytes and peripheral sensory nerves. His clinical practice focuses on general and inflammatory dermatology in a hospital setting. He in an editor for multiple journals and the recipient of several NIH and foundation research awards.