About

Dr. Ian Maher is a Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Operations at the University of Minnesota. He serves as the Director of Dermatology and Mohs Fellowship Director at the university. Dr. Maher is a nationally recognized expert in the field of Mohs surgery and facial reconstruction. His research focuses on outcome measurement and the development of new reconstructive techniques. He is involved in clinical practice within the Dermatologic Surgery and Laser Center and holds board certifications from the American Board of Dermatology.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Surgery
• Family medicine
• Pathology
• Computer Science
• Radiology
• Anatomy
• Pharmacology
• Dermatology
• Engineering ethics
• Oncology
• Psychology
• Nursing
• Engineering
• Biology

Selected publications

• Efficiently Executing a Karapandzic Flap: How We Do It

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2026-04-24

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Modeled Cost Analysis Using CPT/Medicare Rates and Approach Comparing Superficial Radiation Therapy Versus Mohs in Patients With Squamous Cell Carcinoma

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2026-03-10

  articleSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Image-guided superficial radiotherapy (IGSRT) has been advocated for and advertised as having lower recurrence rates, lack of surgical scars, morbidity, and being more cost-effective in comparison with Mohs surgery (MMS). OBJECTIVE: Evaluate and perform a modeled cost analysis using CPT/Medicare rates comparing IGSRT versus MMS in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors evaluated 3 exemplary and representative SCC lesions classified by stage (T1, T2, and Tis) and divided by anatomical location (head and neck/trunk and extremities). RESULTS: Average cost of a Mohs procedure for both the head/neck and trunk/extremities ranged from $1,010.15 to $1,566.68 depending on the repair type. IGSRT had a wide variety and range in price from $1,450.49 to $10,244.93 for a 10-session regimen versus $2,058.74 to $ 25,510.58 for the recommended 25 session regimen. SRT delivery only accounts for 3.74% of the cost per session. CONCLUSION: Their results show that SRT can theoretically be 1.11 to 22.99 times more expensive regardless of MMS repair complexity. Overall time of the procedure is similar to twice as long but is also divided over the course of 10 to 25 days.

  PublisherDOI

• Interrater and Intrarater Reliability of Mohs Surgeons in the Assessment of MART-1 Frozen Section Margins for Melanoma

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2025-10-08

  article

  BACKGROUND: The use of Mohs micrographic surgery as a treatment for melanoma is rising, but the reliability of Mohs surgeons in assessing MART-1 melanoma en-face margins has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate interrater and intrarater reliability of Mohs surgeons in interpreting margins of early-stage melanoma. METHODS: Twenty Mohs surgeons were asked to independently review images of frozen section MART-1 en-face peripheral margins of in situ or early-stage melanoma. Surgeons determined margins as positive or negative at initial evaluation and 6 weeks later. Primary outcomes were interrater and intrarater reliability. RESULTS: Interrater agreement was 84.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 75.5%-92.8%) for assessment 1 and 87.5% (95% CI: 78.4%-96.4%) for assessment 2, with kappa values 0.68 (95% CI: 0.50-0.82) and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.57-0.88). Average intrarater percent agreement was 95.0% (95% CI: 70.6%-100.0%) with average kappa 0.90 (95% CI: 0.50-1.00). CONCLUSION: Substantial interrater and nearly perfect intrarater agreement was identified among surgeons assessing melanoma margins utilizing MART-1 immunostaining, demonstrating consistent and reproducible assessment of melanoma margins during Mohs cases.

  PublisherDOI

• Acne scarring: protocol for development of a core outcome set for clinical trials

  BMJ Open · 2025-04-01

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: Acne scarring is one of the primary sequelae that affect patients with acne, with facial scarring occurring to some extent in 95% of patients with active acne. Subtypes include atrophic, hypertrophic and keloid scarring. Treatment options include topical and surgical approaches. Despite numerous clinical trials focusing on acne scarring treatments, the absence of standardised outcome reporting across these trials raises concerns in evaluating treatment methods. To address this issue, this project aims to develop a core set of outcomes which should be uniformly assessed in all clinical trials involving acne scarring. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Outcomes will be extracted from four sources: a systematic literature review, patient interviews, printed and electronic sources and stakeholder involvement. The steering committee will assess the potential outcomes, adding or removing outcomes if needed. The Delphi process will be performed to understand the importance of outcomes. Two rounds of Delphi surveys will be completed by physicians, researchers and patients. Following this, a consensus meeting involving stakeholders will be held to refine the outcomes based on participant scores. The meeting will end in a voting process to determine a final recommended core outcome set (COS). This study will be conducted in collaboration with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) initiative and the CHORD COUSIN Collaboration (C3). This study aims to develop a global COS to standardise assessment approaches in clinical trials of acne scarring. The final goal is to enhance uniformity of outcome reporting. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval and consent to participate for the study have been granted by Northwestern University Institutional Review Board protocol ID: STU00097285. On completion of the COS, we plan to publish our results in peer-reviewed journals and send participants the finalised COS. PROSPERO REGISTRATION DETAILS: This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023460964), COMET (754) and C3 (https://www.c3outcomes.org/improved-acne-scarring).

  PublisherDOI

• Reconstruction of a Full-Thickness Auricle Defect

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2025-07-08

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Full‐thickness conchal bowl and extensive postauricular repair

  JDDG Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft · 2025-08-05

  articleSenior author

  None.

  PublisherDOI

• How We Do It: Reconstruction of Combined Lateral Upper and Lower Eyelid Defects

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2025-03-04

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Unilateral Upper Cutaneous Lip and Nasal Sill Defect Reconstruction

  Dermatologic Surgery · 2025-07-16

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Outcomes of cutaneous surgery for nonmelanoma skin cancer in patients with different Fitzpatrick skin types: A nationwide, multicenter, prospective study

  Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology · 2024-02-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Establishing Consensus for Mohs Micrographic Surgical Techniques in the Treatment of Melanoma in Situ for Future Clinical Trials: A Modified Delphi Study

  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network · 2024-07-30 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) is a promising treatment modality for melanoma in situ (MIS). However, variations in surgical technique limit the generalizability of existing data and may impede future study of MMS in clinical trials. METHODS: A modified Delphi method was selected to establish consensus on optimal MMS techniques for treating MIS in future clinical trials. The Delphi method was selected due to the limited current data, the wide range of techniques used in the field, and the intention to establish a standardized technique for future clinical trials. A literature review and interviews with experienced MMS surgeons were performed to identify dimensions of the MMS technique for MIS that (1) likely impacted costs or outcomes of the procedure, and (2) showed significant variability between surgeons. A total of 8 dimensions of technical variation were selected. The Delphi process consisted of 2 rounds of voting and commentary, during which 44 expert Mohs surgeons across the United States rated their agreement with specific recommendations using a Likert scale. RESULTS: Five of eight recommendations achieved consensus in Round 1. All 3 of the remaining recommendations achieved consensus in Round 2. Techniques achieving consensus in Round 1 included the use of a starting peripheral margin of ≤5 mm, application of immunohistochemistry, frozen tissue processing, and resecting to the depth of subcutaneous fat. Consensus on the use of Wood's lamp, dermatoscope, and negative tissue controls was established in Round 2. CONCLUSIONS: This study generated 8 consensus recommendations intended to offer guidance for Mohs surgeons treating MIS. The adoption of these recommendations will promote standardization to facilitate comparisons of aggregate data in multicenter clinical trials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Murad Alam

  Northwestern University

  46 shared

• Jeremy S. Bordeaux

  University School

  43 shared

• Joseph F. Sobanko

  32 shared

• Todd V. Cartee

  Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

  32 shared

• Ramona Behshad

  UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels

  28 shared

• Emily Poon

  Chinese University of Hong Kong

  27 shared

• Addison M. Demer

  Mayo Clinic

  25 shared

• Adam R. Mattox

  University of Minnesota

  24 shared