Pioneer researcher in skin pathology. Dr. Ackerman was noted for a two-stage diagnostic method he devised for viewing skin tissue, first at low magnification to get a sense of what he called the "silhouette," then zooming in to diagnose the problem at a cellular level. As an educator he trained generations of dermatologists in the course of his career he taught on the faculties of the University of Miami, Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and New York University, where, as head of the Skin and Cancer Institute, his laboratory was among the first to screen for Kaposi's sarcoma. He founded the Ackerman Academy of Dermatopathology, now part of Dermapath Diagnostics, an affiliate of Quest Diagnostics. A professorship was endowed in his name at Harvard University School of Medicine. He created two professional journals, the American Journal of Dermatopathology and Dermatopathology: Practical and Conceptual. Photo.