Peter Pochi, M.D.

One of the first Albanian-American doctors to embrace dermatology, and to have engaged in efforts to develop Accutane, a popular acne medication.

Peter Pochi’s desire to be a physician had its beginnings early. A family member was chronically ill, and encounters with physicians were frequent. Consequently, he could imagine for himself nothing less than a future career in medicine. Eventually, he was fortunate enough enter the medical field and, in time, achieve personal success in it and to be the first Albanian American to embrace the specialty of dermatology. “My parents were both born in Korça, Albania, and immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. I was born in Boston, where from my family early on moved to the nearby suburb of Watertown, where I was raised and graduated from high school,” says Dr. Pochi. “Then, it was on to Harvard College and afterward to the Boston University School of Medicine, from which I graduated in 1955 with an M.D. degree.”