Eve Visits UTMB Dermatology

Allergan's Eve, an interactive computer model used to teach and improve physician injection techniques for Botox, visited UTMB Dermatology last week. UTMB dermatology residents received expert instruction and feedback from UTMB's faculty cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Erica Kelly.

Houston Dermatologists Are Talking (and Learning) About Us!

The achievements of UTMB dermatology residents and students was the topic of a lecture given by our dermatology program director, Dr. Richard Wagner, at the 2009 John Knox Dermatology Lecture and Clinical Conference hosted by the Houston Dermatological Association and held at The University of Texas-Houston Dermatology Department on Saturday morning, November 21, 2009. Dr. Wagner talked about the UTMB Dermatology Research Honors Program, the recently published UTMB research article in Dermatology Online Journal about dermatology educational opportunities for visiting 4th year medical students (Houston area dermatology residency programs are a national hotbed for dermatology medical education), the success of the UTMB Dermatology Interest Group (DIG) blog in providing communication and information about dermatology to our medical students, and UTMB's Dermatology experience with using teleconferencing to include distance learning medical students in our dermatology electives. In addition, the required Dermatology Scholarly Project for UTMB Dermatology Residents was discussed, highlighting Dr. Josh Dimmick's recent publication about SPF lip protection in a population of skin cancer patients.

Dr. Sharon S. Raimer Featured in Texas Monthly

Congratulations to Dr. Sharon Raimer, the Chair of UTMB Dermatology, for being named a 2009 "Texas Super Doctor." This honor was recognized in the December 2009 issue of Texas Monthly, a widely read magazine. The website, superdoctors.com contains more information about the selection process.

UTMB Dermatology Clinic in Bay Colony Town Center, League City, Texas Now Taking Appointments for Anticipated Monday, December 7, 2009 Opening

The new UTMB dermatology clinic at Bay Colony (in the same shopping center as HEB and 24 Hour Fitness in League City, on the west side of I-45) has begun taking appointments for its planned opening on December 7th. This clinic is conveniently located for the rapidly growing cities of League City, Dickinson, Friendswood, Santa Fe, Texas City and communities in the Clear Lake area. Patients interested in making an appointment there should call 281-534-3376 . The clinic will be staffed by UTMB dermatology faculty.

This Looks Good!

UTMB will be sponsoring a day long (8:30 am to 5 pm) symposium featuring outside and UTMB faculty speakers in honor of Michael R McGinnis, PhD, about Medical Mycology topics on Monday, December 7th in Levin Hall. It is free to participants, who must register by contacting roleslie@utmb.edu

Play Safe In The Sun comes to Houston this weekend!

The Women's Dermatologic Society needs volunteers for the “Play Safe in the Sun” event this weekend at the LPGA Tour Championship in Houston, TX. Volunteers will provide sun safety education and outreach to LPGA spectators.

WDS members Deborah MacFarlane, MD and Lucile White, MD will chair this event and are seeking Texas Board-certified Dermatologists to conduct free skin cancer screenings and sun safety outreach in the WDS booth on the tournament grounds. This is a fun way to get to know other local dermatologists, be involved in an event that attracts a lot of media attention, and provide a much-needed outreach service to the golfing community. There are also volunteer opportunities for residents, nurses, physician's assistants and family members who are interested in joining us.

Date: November 20-22, 2009

Location: The Houstonian Golf & Country Club @ 12600 Houstonian Way, Houston, TX

Volunteer Shifts:
Friday, November 20 - Sunday, November 22- Public Outreach
1.) Fri: Shift A: 9:00 am-12:00 pm * Shift B: 12:00 pm-3:00 pm
2.) Sat: Shift A: 9:00 am-12:00 pm * Shift B: 12:00 pm-3:00 pm
3.) Sun: Shift A: 9:00 am-12:00 pm

Additional Information: Volunteer passes and parking information will be provided to you once you have signed up as a volunteer. For more information on the tournament, please visit http://www.lpgatourchampionship.org/information.php

RSVP if you are interested in joining:
http://www.playsafeinthesun.org/news/volunteer.php
877-WDS-ROSE (937-7673) or wds@womensderm.org

Congratulations to Dr. Catherine C. McNeese

Dr. Catherine McNeese has passed the American Board of Dermatopathology Certification Exam on her first attempt and is now a Diplomate of the American Board of Dermatopathology. She completed the one year dermatopathology fellowship at UTMB in 2008, and now practices in Austin, Texas.

Reminder: 51st annual NSRF deadline is January 22

The 51st Annual National Student Research Forum is scheduled for April 22-23, 2010. Abstracts for submission must be postmarked by January 22nd. Check out the NSRF UTMB Homepage at: http://www.utmb.edu/nsrf/ for more details. Medical students, residents and graduate students are all able to submit abstracts about dermatology to this meeting.

Still some Openings for "Narratives of Skin Disease" class (DERU-4012)

According to UTMB's Anita Hendrix, there are still three spots available for the new BSHS Selective, DERU-4012 that starts on December 14th (Period 13). This class is only available to UTMB MS4 students and is only given during Period 13. During the course, students read 3 books written by people with skin diseases (nonmelanoma skin cancer, leprosy and vitiligo) and then select an additional book from an approved list for a 5 page, double-spaced critical, comparative essay. This is a good class for those who like to read and who want to learn more about how skin disease impacts lives.

MS4 Audra Clos Receives Basic Science Research Student Poster Award

Congratulations to UTMB MS4 Audra Clos for her winning presentation, "Approaches using cutaneous amyloid mouse model to study the effects of local, passive administration of conformational antibodies for the treatment of protein aggregate disorders of aging" at the 13th Annual Forum on Aging. Her coauthors were A. Lasagna-Reeves (neurology), B. Kelly (dermatology), G.R. Jackson (neurology) and R. Kayed (neurology). Her abstract was published in the program book (number 29). This work is part of her UTMB Honors Research Program.

The Envelope Please...

Please join the UTMB DIG in congratulating MS4 Doug Heiner and his coauthor, MS2 Donnie Warren for being awarded the "Best Student Poster" at the 13th Annual Forum on Aging. for their presentation, "Preventing Ultraviolet Light Scalp Injury: Scalp Cancer Awareness and Protective Behaviors" (Abstract 12 published in the 2009 program book). Their UTMB coauthors on the study were Tatsuo Uchida (Office of Biostatistics) and Richard Wagner, MD, Department of Dermatology. The resesearch is part of Mr. Heiner's UTMB Dermatology Research Honors Program, and it was sponsored in part by the Edgar B. Smith Professorship.

Alison Wiesenthal Presents Research in Austin

MS IV Alison Wiesenthal will be presenting her original research, Cutaneous Side Effects of Novel Chemotherapy PLX 4032, in Austin next Friday to Dr. Reichenberg and residents and welcomes Austin DIG members to join! We will be in the Dermatology Conference room in the UT Physicians Building at noon on Friday, November 20th.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to acwiesen@utmb.edu.

Good Resource for Dermatology Residency Information

DIGA (the national umbrella organization for medical school based Dermatology Interest Groups such as our own) maintains a website with lots of useful information for dermatology applicants. They keep an updated list of when specific dermatology residency programs plan to conduct their interviews, so this information can be very useful in planning interview travel schedules. The DIGA website is http://www.derminterest.org/

UTMB DIG Members Presenting Posters Tomorrow

UTMB DIG members, along with the entire UTMB community, are invited to see the two dermatology research posters at the UTMB 13th Annual Forum on Aging on Thursday, November 12th starting at 5 pm in the Levin Hall Dining Room. Cheese and refreshments are promised.

UTMB MS4 Audra Clos is presenting her fascinating research about cutaneous amyloid in a mouse model
("Approaches using cutaneous amyloid mouse model to study the effects of local, passive administration of conformational antibodies for the treatment of protein aggregate disorders of aging") and UTMB MS4 Douglas Heiner, along with coauthor MS2 Donny Warren are presenting their original epidemiologic research from Galveston entitled, "Preventing Ultraviolet Light Scalp Injury: Scalp Cancer Awareness and Protective Behaviors." Good luck to all of these UTMB medical student researchers!

Dr. Dan McCoy Visits UTMB Dermatology

UTMB Dermatology Alum, Dr. Dan McCoy (1997), visited our dermatology department this morning and gave a lecture to the dermatology residents and faculty about his experiences in setting up a private practice after dermatology residency. Dr. McCoy is the Program Director for the new dermatology residency program in Dallas at Baylor Medical Center described in this blog last week. He currently plans on accepting 2 applicants outside of the NRMP for the dermatology residency that starts in July 2010. The July 2010 start date will require completion of an internship. Since this new program is currently a non-ERAS program, applications should soon be available through their website. Despite there not being a formal application available yet, over 100 interested medical students and physicians have already indicated interest. Medical students interested in seeing the program first hand may schedule a dermatology elective at Baylor Medical Center (Dallas).

UTMB Dermatology Alum Starts New Dermatology Residency Program in Dallas

Congratulations to UTMB Dermatology Residency alumni, Dr. Dan McCoy (1997), for initiating a new Dermatology Residency Program in Dallas, Texas, at Baylor Medical Center. Another UTMB Dermatology Residency graduate, Dr. Allison Readinger (2006), will provide dermatopathology services for this new program.

UTMB Dermatology Receives Record Number of Residency Applications

The UTMB dermatology application deadline through ERAS was yesterday, and they received 408 applications. Invitations to interview in February for the residency are usually extended in December.

Dermatology Program Director and Chair Survey about Dermatology Electives

The October 2009 issue of Dermatology Online Journal has published a national survey indicating that 59% of dermatology chairs/program directors did not consider away dermatology to be essential for applicants. Of those who thought away dermatology electives were necessary, the mode was 2 electives. Those surveyed also thought infectious disease, internal medicine and rheumatology were important electives for future dermatology residents. The entire article is available at: http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/1510/originals/year_4_curriculum/armstrong.html

More Advice Published for Dermatology Applicants

Dermatology Online Journal has published another article with advice for current dermatology applicants. The link to the article is http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/1510/commentary/derm_match/alikhan.html

Link Correction!

Below is the corrected link from our most recent post to Rebecca Philips' article, "The "Away" Dermatology Elective for Visiting Medical Students: Educational Opportunities and Barriers." This link has also been corrected in the original post.
http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/1510/originals/away_curriculum/wagner.html