Annual DIG “Talk with the Director” Meeting on 09/02/15

The UTMB Dermatology Interest Group will be holding our first meeting on 09/02 (Wed) at 5-6PM. Our guest speaker for this meeting is Dr. Richard Wagner, the UTMB Dermatology Residency Director. It is an informal Q and A session; where you can ask the director any questions you have regarding how to be competitive for a dermatology residency. Other topics for discussion include how to be involved in dermatology and how to take a year off to do research. Don’t miss out this highly informative session!

When: Wednesday, 9/02/15, 5PM-6PM
Where: Dermatology conference room, 4.112 McCullough Building (Not sure where this is located? Meet us at MOD café in the library at 4:45pm and we can take you there)

In order to make the Q and A more efficient, please post your questions for Dr. Wagner to the following link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1abcDsmlasSxL4tqZy6051ilpJSbe4xnHieoDrtBNFfU/edit?usp=sharing

UTMB DIG Officer Receives Herzog Awards

Congratulations to DIG president, Dung Mac (MS4), for receiving the Herzog Awards. This competitive scholarship (established by funds from the Carl J. Herzog Foundation endowment) supports outstanding students with plans for further education in the Clinical Science Graduate Program that indicate great promise for future contributions to clinical research. Dung Mac will be taking a year off from medical school to obtain a Masters in Clinical Sciences as part of the MD-MS dual degree program at UTMB. His research will be focused on Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (PCT).

Upcoming Dermatology Night at St. Vincent's Clinic

Join UTMB Dermatology residents and faculty for the upcoming dermatology night at St. Vincent’s Clinic. Please see the calendar link below to reserve your volunteering spot:

When: Thursday, Sept 3rd, 5:30-9PM (volunteers should arrive at 5:15)
Where: St. Vincent's House, 2817 Post Office Street, Galveston, Texas 77550
Volunteer link: http://www.stvsc.org/index.php/students/

Dr. C. Helen Malone Publishes Article in JAAD

The UTMB DIG congratulates UTMB PGY4 dermatology resident, Dr. Helen Malone for her original publication, “Recreation of the alar crease with the inverted horizontal mattress suture technique.” Her online article is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190962215017429 . Her co-author was Dr. R. Wagner (UTMB Dermatology Program Director). During her three month Mohs rotation that was completed in June 2015, Dr. Malone submitted two additional surgical articles that have already been accepted for publication in the JAAD, and abstracts for two posters at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology. In addition, she wrote two interesting case reports that related to unusual aspects of skin cancer she saw while on the Mohs service, one of which has already been submitted for publication. Two MS4 UTMB medical students were mentored by Dr. Malone during the Mohs rotation, one of whom is the first author of a case report, and the other is the first author of an academic review about skin flaps (both manuscripts are currently in preparation). One of these medical students is also assisting Dr. Malone with her dermatology residency program required scholarly projected that relates to improving dermatology resident education in Mohs wound repair with skin flaps.

Will I Pass My Specialty Certification Exam in Dermatology? Lessons Learned from US Pediatric Residency Programs

Applicants to residency programs rightly focus on program board certification examination pass rate. Many program characteristics are considered. A recently published educational study provides insight into key features of pediatric residency programs with high pass rates on their specialty certification examination (Atsawarungruangkit A. Residency program characteristics that are associated with pass rate of the American Board of Pediatrics certifying exam. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 2015, 6:517-524 , http://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=23157 ) The author found that three elements of the residency program predicted high success rates on the certification examination by multivariate analysis: “ratio of full-time equivalent paid faculty to positions, percentage of US medical graduates, and average hours per week of regularly scheduled lectures or conferences.” This finding may help to explain the high board certification pass rate in US dermatology residencies, since most US dermatology residencies typically share the features of successful pediatric residency programs.

UTMB Dermatology Selects New Text for Dermatology Students

The UTMB Department of Dermatology has selected a new text (Clinical Dermatology by Drs. Carol Soutor and Maria Hordinsky) for use in UTMB dermatology MS3 and MS4 clinical electives and selectives during the 2015-2016 academic year. One nice feature for rotating medical students in our dermatology department is that they are not required to buy dermatology books and related materials. All of the needed academic material for all of our rotations may be borrowed by students from the dermatology lending library. Thank you UTMB Dermatology for keeping student costs low!

American Skin Association offers Competitive Research Grants to Medical Students

Competitive research funding for medical students in dermatology is scarce. However, one reliable funding source for medical student dermatology research in a melanoma and/or nonmelanoma skin cancer research funding is the American Skin Association (ASA). The ASA student research grants are for $7000. Complete applications must be submitted by the October 1, 2015 deadline. Only one student grant application is permitted per institution. Additional grant application information is available at the ASA web site ( americanskin.org ). Medical students interested in applying for this grant from UTMB should speak to their faculty mentor about their research idea, because support letters from the faculty mentor and department chair are needed as part of the grant application.

UTMB Hosts Famous Medical Speaker

On Thursday at noon (Research Building #6, 1.206 Auditorium), August 6, 2015 UTMB will host Dr. Thomas P. Stossel from Harvard Medical School and a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. His lecture is entitled,

“Is the Medical Products Industry criminal – and are its physician partners delinquent children?” Everyone on campus is invited to attend.

New Student Center Announced at Jennie Sealy Hospital

In the Sunday, August 2, 2015 issue of the Galveston Daily News, John Wayne Ferguson reported that UTMB students and residents will soon benefit from an entire 5th floor at the new Jennie Sealy Hospital dedicated to their clinical education. The Siebel Students Center is expected to open in 2016.