Jean Krutmann, MD

“Everything in the body is highly interrelated and therefore if you want to really have effective preventive or beneficial strategies, you’ll need to come from several angles at the same time. For example, the better quality your food habits are, the better your skin will be protected against any type of insult. And since people don’t always like to eat a very healthy diet, there is clearly room to consider how nutritional supplements may compensate for dietary gaps to support skin health.”   

Dr. Krutmann investigates the molecular mechanisms that underlie environmentally induced skin aging and associated skin diseases. His work includes mechanistic, epidemiological and interventional studies in dermatoxicology, immunodermatology and photodermatology. 

He is credited with major discoveries involving in the UVB stress response, the role of traffic-related air pollution in skin aging/pigmentation, the identification of near infrared rays as a cause of wrinkle formation and the definition and characterization of the skin aging exposome. His work has also led to interventional advances in pollution particle-induced lung diseases. 

With Amway, Dr. Krutmann is analyzing the relationship between genetics and exposome, the set of external and environmental factors that are foreign to the body and impact health in some way, aided by his capabilities in bioinformatics (big data analysis). He is helping Amway understand the potential for a three-way approach to healthy aging with skin health targets, nutrition support and air treatment. More specifically, his work will help Amway target plant extracts to individual health and wellness factors more specifically.  

Dr. Krutman obtained his MD from the University of Munster in Germany. He completed post-doctoral work at Case Western Reserve University in the USA and has held positions in dermatology specialty hospitals in Germany and Austria. He is the author or coauthor of more than 500 scientific articles and editor of nine textbooks. The recipient of numerous national and international prizes, he is a member of the German National Academy of Science and holds numerous honorary memberships, leadership positions and visiting and distinguished professorships.