UTMB dermatologist Dr. Erica Kelly on UV Safety Month and new sunscreen rules

July is UV safety month. UTMB's Dr. Erica Kelly comments on the FDA's new sunscreen rules and provides helpful tips to keep your skin safe this summer.


Please visit the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIRso-rMsW0

The Unpublished Applicant

The unpublished dermatology applicant is becoming scarce. Many dermatology applicants now have several publications on their ERAS application. What should those with a career interest in dermatology but no publications do? Certainly there are still applicants who successfully match into dermatology programs without publications. However, if there is interest in publishing, one rewarding approach is to contact dermatology faculty and residents about writing an case report about one of the interesting patients they have seen. Writing and publishing a case report is an excellent introduction to medical writing. Successful case reports involve researching the disease and distinguishing aspects about the case that make its presentation unique. Just because it was an interesting case in clinic does not mean that journals will be interested in publishing it. Critical thinking is important at this stage of selecting a case that will be of interest to journals, and faculty input is very important here. Some faculty have authored numerous case reports and have acquired a good understanding about what the journals prefer. Published case reports are ideally the first description of a new disease, but this is a rare event. More likely it will have to deal with a very rare disease that journal readers want to know more about, an uncommon presentation of a common disease, or some new drug or device that was useful to successfully treat skin disease. Recently introduced drugs may also have unreported adverse reactions on the skin, mucosa, nails or hair, and this observation could also make an interesting case report.

Once the topic is selected, student authors should collect all of the related materials such as clinical photos and dermatopathologic images, and do a literature review on the topic, creating a reference list. A journal should be selected and the case report should be written in the same style according to its authorship guidelines. Several revisions are typically needed before journal submission, with input from all of the co-authors. The student submits the article to the journal and begins the editorial review process. Often times manuscript revision is needed as advised by the reviewers and editor. Be sure to communicate with all of the co-authors to get their input at this point in the process. If the article is rejected from the first journal, the article should be submitted to another journal. An article may be rejected several times for many different reasons, but chances are if your case report has merit, the article will probably be published if you are persistent and find the right journal for it. Dermatology programs generally understand that first author publications by medical students are great professional accomplishments that take enormous talent and effort, and having publications on your ERAS application certainly may result in more invitations to interview for a dermatology residency position.

UTMB Dermatology Preparing for Dermatology RRC Site Visit

While the Dermatology Residency Review Committee (RRC) is not scheduled until September 14, there is lots of work needed to prepare for the visit. Here Ms. Kimberly Cooper, UTMB Dermatology Program Coordinator, is preparing some of the required paperwork for the upcoming site visit. During the last UTMB Dermatology RRC site visit in 2006, the UTMB Dermatology Residency Program was given a 5 year cycle, the maximum permitted.

Dermatology Fellowship Trends Following Dermatology Residency

According to the recently published July 2011 American Board of Dermatology Newsletter for Program Directors, postgraduate fellowship training in dermatology continues to grow. Currently there are 54 dermatopathology fellowships, 45 procedural fellowships, and 23 pediatric dermatology fellowships. Last year, 93/379 dermatology graduates took an American Board of Dermatology or ACGME approved fellowships (24%). Five years ago, only 31 took this type of postgraduate dermatology fellowship training.

Dermatology Night at St. Vincent's Free Health Clinic

Join UTMB Dermatology faculty and residents for Dermatology night at St. Vincent's Clinic!

When: This Tuesday, July 26th, 4:30-8PM
Where: St. Vincent's House, 2817 Post Office Street, Galveston, Texas 77550

St. Vincent's House offers a student-run free health clinic serving the Galveston uninsured and underserved population. St. Vincent's is an important part of the UTMB community, providing free health services to the public, while teaching medical, PA, and nursing students how to manage common health issues. UTMB Dermatology residents and faculty can be found volunteering at St. Vincent's Clinic each month, where they aid medical students in providing free skin cancer screenings, biopsies, excisions, and routine dermatologic care.

For more information about St. Vincent's Clinic, please visit their website at: http://www.stvsc.org/.

Congratulations to Dr. Megan Moody-Neill

PGY2 UTMB dermatology resident, Dr. Moody-Neill, has published another paper related to work done in her fellowship with Dr. Leonard Goldberg in Houston. The citation is: Moody MN, Landau JM, Goldberg LH, Marquez D, Vergilis-Kalner IJ. 595 nm long pulsed dye laser with a hydrocolloid dressing for the treatment of hypergranulation tissue on the scalp in postsurgical defects. Dermatology Online J 17(7):2. The entire paper can be read at: http://dermatology.cdlib.org/1707/2_csr/2_11-00132/article.html.

Proposed Federal Cuts Would Hurt Texas Residency Programs

First, state cuts decreased future resident postgraduate education funding in Texas. Now, according to the Houston Chronicle, the federal government is planning to do the same. Stay informed by reading this link to the Houston Chronicle article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7665665.html
Will residents eventually have to pay tuition for postgraduate training? Or will dermatology residency positions eventually be reduced in number due to lack of funding?

Indoor Tanning Bed Fire

Yes, in a local news story, an indoor tanning bed in League City started a fire earlier this week http://galvestondailynews.com/blog/6230 .
There is also a news video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XMkI_tbwFaE .
Fortunately, unlike in Final Destination 3, no one was hurt.

Exam Coaching

Keck (USC) medical student, Joshua Tompkins takes issue with test preparation companies in the July 14, 2011 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (Tompkins J. Money for nothing? The problem of the board-exam coaching industry. NEJM 2011;365:104-105). He highlights the use of the MCAT as an important factor in admission to medical school. Students accepted by US medical schools have higher grade point averages (3.67 vs 3.53) and MCAT scores (31.1 vs 28.3) than students who are not accepted. According to the author’s research, commercial preparation courses are costly and do little to improve student scores. However, this viewpoint is contrary to the anecdotal experience of many students who think this type of test preparation has benefited them. Certainly it is easier to see if test preparation improves a student’s subsequent MCAT score, because this test may be taken more than once.

For medical students, Step 1 cutoff scores are being used in competitive specialties. However, unless a medical student fails Step 1, retesting is not permitted. Perhaps the most unfair aspect about Step 1 is that most students only have one chance to take it.

Approval Notification of House Staff Salary Increase

A notice was sent out from the Office of Graduate Medical Education concerning House Staff salary. Effective September 1, 2011, an approval was made to increase House Staff salaries. However, this increase is subject to further approval of UTMB's final budget for FY 2012 by the UT System of Board of Regents.

Derm Swag

UTMB dermatology residents are a fortunate group. Our department provides every resident with a dermatology camera and 4 gig memory card, a dermatoscope, the required textbooks used in each academic year (dermatopathology and general texts), paid dermatology conference expenses each year (generally the annual AAD meeting and the Texas Dermatology Meetings), the annual weekend UTMB dermatopathology board review course, white clinic coats, and 5 days of administrative leave that can be rolled over into subsequent years (used to attend conferences, review courses, and interviews) that does not count toward vacation leave.

Dr. John Stephens Publishes Article About UTMB’s New Dermatology Acting Internship

Dr. John Stephens, who completed his dermatology residency at UTMB last month, is the first author on an article in the July 2011 issue of Dermatology Online Journal, entitled “The Dermatology Acting Internship,” that reviewed his experience with our dermatology AI and the new curriculum and evaluation methods that he helped to create as part of his dermatology scholarly project program graduation requirement. His two coauthors on the publication are Dr. Sharon Raimer, Dermatology Chair, and Dr. Richard Wagner, Dermatology Program Director. The full citation for this article is: Stephens JB, Raimer SS, Wagner RF Jr. The dermatology acting internship. Dermatology Online J 2011(7):9. It is available online at: http://dermatology.cdlib.org/1707/4_cmt/9_11-00160/article.html