Meet Anir Dhir, MD, & Shelby Coplen, PA-C

Anir Dhir, MD, FACMS

Dr. Anir Dhir was born in Detroit to immigrant parents from Germany and India. After graduating with a B.S. in Biomedical & Electrical Engineering with honors from the University of Texas at Austin, he attended Baylor College of Medicine, where he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha - the medical honor society. He completed his Dermatology residency at Emory University in Atlanta and then pursued a fellowship in Mohs surgery and facial reconstruction in Birmingham, Alabama with world-renowned Gary Monheit, MD – a Tucson native and Past President of the American College of Mohs Surgery, American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, and American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

From 1999 to 2015, Dr. Dhir was a partner with Dermatology Associates of Kentucky in Lexington. He was the busiest Mohs surgeon in Kentucky, where he performed 30,000 Mohs surgeries with a cure rate of over 99.5% and an infection rate of 0.2%. He served as the Medical Director of the only Medicare- and AAAHC-accredited ambulatory surgery center (ASC) ever built in Kentucky dedicated to dermatologic surgery. In 2003, Dr. Dhir was first elected to Best Doctors in America by his colleagues - an honor awarded to the Top 4% of U.S. Physicians.  Since 2004, he has also been recognized as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor - a recognition given to only 7% of all U.S. board-certified physicians.  Dr. Dhir has authored several publications and served as faculty at numerous national scientific meetings. He has been interviewed as a dermatologic expert on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and in publications such as Newsweek. Dr. Dhir was first board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology in 1998 and has been a Fellow in the American College of Mohs Surgery since 1999.

After raising their children, Dr. Dhir’s love of the Southwest and recognition of Tucson’s skin cancer epidemic led him and Nathalie to relocate to Tucson in 2017. Dr. Dhir practiced with HealthySkin Dermatology for 3 years before opening Arizona Mohs Surgery & Dermatology in 2020. In Tucson, he and his team have performed nearly 12,000 Mohs surgeries.  His goal is to use his significant Mohs surgical and ASC management experience to deliver compassionate, ASC-level surgical care in a less expensive, more comfortable office setting.

Shelby Coplen, PA-C, joined our experienced team in 2024.  She is a Physician Assistant who has practiced medical dermatology in Tucson since 2018.  Shelby is originally from Indiana, where she attended Indiana University and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology with honors in 2014.  She was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic honors society through a selective, merit-based invitation process.  Shelby continued her education at the prestigious Butler University, where she received her Masters of Physician Assistant Studies degree in 2017.

Shelby started her career working in gastroenterology, where she gained experience working with many conditions that have associated dermatologic complications including inflammatory bowel disease and liver cirrhosis.  She then started working in dermatology and is passionate about early detection and prevention of skin cancer.  She is a member of the Society of Dermatology Physician Associates and has completed the rigorous SDPA Diplomat Fellowship program - a training program for PAs in dermatology.  She has extensive experience in skin cancer screenings, non-surgical treatment of skin cancer, and treatment of chronic dermatological conditions such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, rosacea, and acne.  Shelby currently resides in Tucson with her husband, who recently completed his PhD degree at UA.  In her free time, Shelby enjoys hiking, traveling, and spending time with her husband and young daughter.

Dr. Dhir

Undergraduate

B.S. in Biomedical / Electrical Engineering with Honors
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 1990

Medical School

Baylor College of Medicine with Honors, Houston, Texas, 1994

Residency

Internship, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1995

Dermatology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, 1998

Fellowship

Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Cutaneous Oncology
Gary Monheit, MD, Birmingham, Alabama, 1999

Specialty

Mohs Micrographic Surgery for Skin Cancer (nearly 42,000 cases performed)

Awards and Honors

Best Doctors in America, 2003-12, 2015-2022

Castle Connolly Top Doctor, 2004-2024

Hewlett Packard Top Medical Graduate Award (Top 5 Students), 1994

Alpha Omega Alpha (medical honor society), 1993

Engineering Scholar Award (Top 5%), 1990

Medical Licenses

Arizona, Kentucky (inactive), and Florida (inactive)

Personal Interests

Family, Physical Fitness, Automotive Racing, Cooking

Radical Cup Prototype Racing Series, Rookie of the Year, 2017

Research and Publications