2008 National Student Research Forum Dermatology Awardee

The UTMB DIG congratulates the 2008 NSRF dermatology poster award winner, Kristopher Day, from the University of Iowa (Tfap2e Potentiates Tfap2a Activity in Melanophores, Suggests Novel Melanoma Target). Mr. Day also was awarded 3 additional awards at the 49th Annual NSRF for his excellent scientific investigation: the UTMB School of Medicine, Office of Student Affairs Overall Poster Award, the NSRF Overall Poster Award (1st Place), and the AMA Award for Overall Excellence in Research.

Research Dermatology Graduation Honors Awarded

The UTMB Dermatology Interest Group (DIG) is pleased to announce that another one of its members, fourth year medical student Conner Chan, successfully defended his dermatology research honors thesis on Thursday afternoon, and received Magna Cum Laude graduation honors from the UTMB Honors Research Steering Committee. His research topic was entitled, "Positive Margins in Surgical Excision of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers." Dr. Richard Wagner was Mr. Chan's faculty thesis supervisor. Other Ad Hoc thesis committee members were Drs. Simon Lewis, Brent Kelly and Sharon Raimer. Mr. Chan will take his internship at UTMB following graduation later this year and he will begin his dermatology residency at Louisiana State University (New Orleans) in 2009.

2007 UTMB School of Medicine Graduate to begin Dermatology Residency

Congratulations go out to Laura Speck, MD, our 2007 Edgar B. Smith Endowed Scholarship Awardee for Excellent Dermatology Research by a UTMB Medical Student. Dr. Speck is currently completing her internship at Baylor College of Medicine and will soon begin dermatology residency at New York Medical College.

DIG Meeting Recap and Announcements

At the last DIG meeting of the year, first, second, and third year medical students were given insight to the dermatology residency application process. Thank you to our faculty advisior, Dr. Richard Wagner, for providing us with statistics of this year's match and an insider's point of view on what programs are looking for. Also, thank you to senior medical students Conner Chan, Julie Cummings, and Ashley Group for sharing their personal experiences from this years match and the advice they offered.

Congratulations to the new DIG officers for 2008-2009!!

President - Leslie Scroggins, MSIII
Vice President - Mara Dacso, MSIII
Secretary - Meredity McKee, MSII
Miles for Melanoma Co-Chair (Austin) - Alison Wiesenthal, MSII
Miles for Melanoma Co-Chair (Galveston) - Tatiana Sousa, MSIII
Community Outreach Chair - Jennifer Vickers, MSIII
Second Year Medical Student Chair - Auris Huen, MSI

We look forward to your leadership next year!

Finally, the meeting concluded with a discussion of upcoming volunteer events. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Miles for Melanoma walk that will be held at the Fieldhouse Track on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Please contact Julie Cummings at jecummin@utmb.edu for more information. We will also be giving our Sunburn and Skin Cancer Awareness presentation at a local elementary school in May. An announcement will be made once details are finalized. Please contact Leslie Scroggins at lkscrogg@utmb.edu if you have any questions.

Finally, the UTMB, Department of Dermatology, will offer a FREE skin cancer screening on Saturday, May 10 from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at the Family HealthCare Center. The center is located at 3828 Avenue N in Galveston. Volunteers are needed to help this event run smoothly. Please bring your white coats.

UTMB Faculty Named as International Guest Editor for Skin Cancer

Our DIG faculty advisor, Dr. Richard Wagner was the International Guest Editor for the January/March 2008 issue (Volume 23, Number 1) of Skin Cancer (Portugal), a peer-reviewed medical journal. He used his editorship to highlight the many contributions UTMB researchers are making to the field of skin cancer prevention, diagnosis, surgical management, and education. His coauthors on the 8 original articles in the current issue are all current or former medical students, UTMB dermatology residents, UTMB dermatology faculty and other UTMB contributors. Dr. Wagner previously served as as the first American international guest editor for Skin Cancer in 1993.


Prevention of Skin Cancer

1, Wagner RF Jr. Skin Cancer Research at The University of Texas Medical Branch Department of Dermatology, 1988-2008. Skin Cancer 2008: 23(1):7-8.

2. Poonawalla T, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. Incorporating Ethnicity into a High School Sunburn Prevention Program. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):9-16.

Dr. Poonawalla is currently a first year dermatology resident at the University of Wisconsin.

3. McClung AA, Uchida T, Wagner RF Wagner, Jr. Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Substance-related Disorder Among Indoor Tanners. Skin Cancer 2008; 23 (1):17-22.

Dr. McClung is currently a second year dermatology resident at Baylor (Houston).

4. Ray JA, Colome MI, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. Development of an Experimental Hairless Guinea Pig Model for Testing Ethyl Alcohol Associated Phototoxicity. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):25-37.

Dr. Ray is currently a second year dermatology resident at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN).

5. Witherspoon J, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. SPF Lip Protection Advertising Patterns in Popular U.S. Magazines. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):39-43.

Dr. Witherspoon is currently a dermatology fellow at Northwestern (Chicago).

6. Daigle SS, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. Use of Phototoxic Medicines at the Beach. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):45-47.

Dr. Daigle is currently an anesthesiology resident at the University of Pennsylvania.

Teaching Surgical Management for Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer

7. Kelly B, Colome MI, Wagner RF Jr. Teaching Dermatology Residents Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Management Utilizing Frozen Sections. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):49-52.

Diagnosis of Skin Cancer

8. Crim C, Colome MI, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. Interspecialty Differences in the Surgical Diagnosis and Management of Seborrheic Keratoses. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):55-60.

Dr. Crim is currently a family medicine resident at Waco Family Medicine Residency Program (Waco, Texas).

Surgical Management of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer

9. Perri AJ 3rd, Chan C, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. Patients’ Recall of Visible Skin Biopsy Sites. Skin Cancer 2008; 23(1):61-67.

Congratulations to Dr. Wagner and all of our UTMB contributors!

Copies of this issue, when available, may be purchased from the publisher (22 euros for USA):

PubliCiencia
Revistas e Congressos
Unipessoal, Lda.
Rua Jose Carlos Barreiros, 18-A
1000-080 Lisbon
Portugal

telephone: (351) 21 844 44 70

Dermatology Research Honors Thesis Presentation

Conner Chan will present his dermatology honors research thesis ("Positive Margins in Surgical Excision of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers") at 3 pm on April 24, 2008 in the Dermatology Conference Room (4.112 McCullough). All DIG members and those interested in this topic are invited to attend. Dr. R. Wagner was Mr. Chan's faculty advisor on this research.

Meeting Reminder, 4-21-08

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to remind you that we will be having our last DIG meeting of the year next Monday, April 21, at 5:00 pm. I hope to see you there!

-Ashley Group

2008 National Student Research Forum Dermatology Posters

The UTMB DIG invites all interested students and faculty to attend the annual NSRF dermatology poster session on Friday morning, April 25th from 10 am until noon in the Levin Hall Foyer. It is a good chance to see nationally recognized student and resident research, not only in dermatology, but in all fields of medicine, and talk with the presenting researchers in an informal atmosphere. The two poster presentations this year are:

Sindhura C. Reddy, Marta J. Vanbeek. Frequency of skin biopsies and the incidence of skin cancer within an academic institution. University of Iowa. Poster 58.

Kristopher Day, Wei Li, Cornell RA. Tfap2e potentiates Tfap2a activity in melanophores, suggests novel melanoma target. University of Iowa. Poster 59.