Anders Vahlquist was born in Solna, Sweden, in 1947. I was invited to dermatology by Lennart Juhlin and Gerd Michaelsson in 1972, already before completing medical school because they found my doctoral thesis in Medical and Physiological Chemistry of interest for their ongoing research on natural vitamin A therapy in various skin conditions. In my thesis, I had published several papers on retinol transport in blood, focusing on a newly discovered protein, RBP. In the choice between specializing in paediatrics, internal medicine or dermatology, I settled for the latter because Lennart offered me excellent laboratory facilities in his department and, most importantly, I could continue my research interest in the cutaneous function of vitamin A, which fortuitously coincided with the first clinical trials of new synthetic retinoids in dermatology, later becoming so important in the treatment of acne conglobata, psoriasis and several types of genodermatosis, including ichthyosis. My tutor, Dr Per A. Peterson, who later moved to America and eventually became Head of Research at Johnson&Johnson, and Lennart Juhlin who was an inspiring and very supportive teacher. From all the intriguing patients I have met over the years, and from many distinguished international colleagues My 5 most important papers are related to retinoids and keratinizing. I’ve been on the Boards of ESDR, UEMS and Finsen Foundation, and served as President of the Swedish Dermatology Society and Chair of the Society for Publication of Acta Dermato-venereology. I have tutored 20 PhD students, 3 of whom later became professors of dermatology. I started a national centre for diagnosis and therapy of genodermatoses in 1998 and took part in establishing European networks, such as GeneSkin and ERN. I acted as Editor of Acta DV from 1999 until 2017, increasing its IF from 0.7 to maximally 4.2. My greatest disappointment in recent years is the difficulty in Sweden to sustain a high academic level in dermatology, mainly because of competition with the rapidly expanding private practice market who can pay much higher salaries for bright doctors. This is the result of political decisions implemented in 2008 by the conservatives. My funniest experience is having had the opportunity to travel around the world (often together with my wife Carin, who is also a dermatologist) to various conferences, meeting funny and interesting people & friends! Top ‘historic’ dermatologists: N.R. Finsen, J. Jadhasson, S. Jablonska, F.J. Darier, D.S. Schuster, P.G. Unna, W. Shelley, A. Kligman, T.B. Fitzpatrick and S. Katz. Top ‘living’ dermatologists: J. Uitto, J. Ring, J. McGrath, J.H. Saurat, I. Leigh, L. Bruckner-Tudermann, C.E. Orfanos, P. Elias and H. Shimizu. Other, more flashy specialties than Dermatology and private practice will continue to attract doctors who no longer need academic merits to get a well-paid position. Better tailored medicine and more curative therapies for chronic skin diseases. Efficient topical anticancer drugs to reduce the need for extensive skin surgery in NMSC. Gene technology for treating severe genodermatoses. *Note: The Pioneers in Dermatology and Venereology interview was conceived and conducted by Johannes Ring.