William Littman, MD

"Having been in medicine for over 30 years, Dr.Littman brings a wide variety of diverse experience to his practice of Dermatology in Oakland. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Zoology at the Penn State University, and his MD at the University of Miami. Dr.Littman joined the U.S. Navy while in medical school, and after Internship at the University of Pittsburg, served the next 22 years on active duty. He was trained in Dermatology at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, and was Board Certified in 1981.

Dr.Littman’s naval experience includes four tours of shipboard duty, both as a General Medical Officer, and as the Dermatologist on the US hospital ship USNS Mercy in the Persian Gulf in 1990-1991. After serving as Head of the Dermatology Department at the Naval Hospital, Oakland, from 1986 to 1995, he retired from the Navy and continued his dermatology practice in the Bay Area. He has been with the Affiliates in Dermatology for over 12 years.

Between 1980 and 1995, Dr.Littman’s tours of duty afforded him the opportunity to become a member of the clinical faculties at several medical institutions, among them, George Washington University, UC Irvine, East Virginia Medical School, and UC San Francisco.

“I feel that it is important to practice medicine in a cooperative environment, wherein I can present my finding and subject information to my patients, and then, with their input, come to treatment decisions from the available options. I also believe, that on occasion, a dose of humor can be a good medicine."

"The Affiliates in dermatology is heir to a long and distinguished history, being derived from the first practice of dermatology in the San Francisco East Bay. Founded in Oakland in the early part of the last century by Dr.Templeton, continued by Dr.Lunsford, the practice was augmented by Doctors Herman Allington, then Ray Allington, with principal offices in Oakland and later in Alameda. It was Dr.Herman Allington who introduced the highly effective use of liquid nitrogen to the treatment of selected skin problems and it was Dr.Ray Allington who, having worked with Dr.Frederick Mohs at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, brought an improved modification of micrographic surgical technique to the East Bay. This venerable dermatology practice has been maintained and expanded by Doctors David Paslin, Leslie Hilger, and Richard Graham, all of whom have been ably assisted by Dr.William Littman, former chief of dermatology at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland. Most of the physicians of the Affiliates are actively contributing members of the Clinical Faculty at UCSF School of Medicine. In addition to this, Dr.Paslin sustains a long term basic research effort initially at the California State Laboratory, subsequently at the virus and immunology of the Gladstone Institute of UCSF and currently as a research associate at Children’s Hospital of Oakland Research Institute. Dr.Hilger maintains the Mohs program at the Affiliates in Dermatology and both he and Dr.Paslin perform this procedure. In addition to this, the Affiliates offer a full range of dermatology services, including diagnostics, varied medical treatment approaches, surgery (Mohs procedure, flaps and grafts, dermabrasion), cryotherapy, sclerotherapy, the Iridex laser, Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) as a partial list. A brief description of each physician of the Affiliates in Dermatology is provided."