Dr. Otley is professor and chair of the department of dermatology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He majored in religion at Williams College, received his medical degree at Duke University, completed a residency in dermatology at Harvard University and then a fellowship in Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic.

He serves as a director of the American Board of Dermatology. He was the founding president of the International Transplant Skin Cancer Collaborative, and has served on the board of directors of the American College of Mohs Surgery and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

In February 2017 he co-authored "Surgical Treatment and Outcomes of Patients With Extramammary Paget Disease: A Cohort Study" reviewing traditional management of EMPD with wide local excision versus Mohs micrographic surgery.