Dr. Molly Warthan's UTMB Dermatology Honors Project Published

Congratulations to Molly M. Warthan, MD for her recent publication in the August 2005 Archives of Dermatology (Warthan MM, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. UV light tanning as a type of substance-related disorder. Arch Dermatol 2005;141:963-966). Molly received Summa Cum Laude graduation honors at UTMB for this Honors Program research in 2004.

Congratulations to the Class of 2004!

All members of the Class of 2004 interested in dermatology have secured a residency position in dermatology:

Connie Cheung -- Loma Linda
Norma Magee -- LSU
Mark Ramirez -- UTMB
Brent Spencer -- Scott and White
Julie Sracic -- UTMB
Molly Warthan -- EVMS

Congratulations to Rebecca Lewis Kelso, MD

Second year UTMB dermatology resident Rebecca Lewis Kelso, MD, was awarded a Young Investigator’s Writing Competition Award by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) for her original research manuscript entitled, “NGFR Immunostaining for the Detection of Perineural Invasion by Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.” She will be presenting this research at the next ASDS meeting. Her manuscript is currently in press at Dermatologic Surgery. This work was done as part of Dr. Kelso’s 2003 UTMB Honors Program.

Baylor Dermatology Informational

Baylor College of Medicine's Department of Dermatology faculty and residents invite students interested in dermatology for an informational session.

Location: Dr. Sylvia Hsu's House
Where: 5407 Valerie St., Bellaire,TX
When: Tuesday, August 9, 6:30pm
Phone: 713-798-7620

Please join the Baylor dermatology faculty and residents for dinner and drinks, as well as, an informational session about applying for a dermatology residency. Forward to other interested students in Dermatology -- but no personal guests please (i.e. spouse, friends, etc).

Please contact Emily Fridlington or Joslyn Witherspoon if you are interested in attending.

DIG educates Anglers

Members of the DIG, Joslyn Witherspoon and Emily Fridlington went to Kemah on June 17th and taught a skin cancer seminar for 100+ members of the Texas Women Anglers. The Anglers were hosting their annual fishing tournament to raise money for breast cancer. As part of the program involving lectures from mutiple organizations, the DIG was invited to speak.

Fun in the Dermatology Surgery Elective!

Senior Dermatology Resident Dr. Allison Readinger helps third year medical student Burgess Lankford (Dermatologic Surgery elective) with his dermatologic surgery technique during today’s pig’s foot training session. The session reviewed excisional surgery, full thickness skin grafts and random pattern skin flaps (advancement, rotation and transposition).

Dermatology Graduation Awards

Congratulations to winners of the Dermatology Graduation Awards!

Thomas W. Freese Memorial Award for Excellence in Dermatology
Amy McClung

Edgar B. Smith Endowed Scholarship in Dermatology
Tasneem Poonawalla

Faculty/resident teaching awards

Congratulations are in order for excellence in teaching!

Medical Student Award in Recogniztion of Excellent Faculty Dermatology Teaching: Richard Wagner, MD

Medical Student Award in Recognition of Excellent Resident Dermatology Teaching: Renee Snyder, MD

Dermatology Resident Award in Recognition of Excellent Faculty Dermatology Teaching: Dayna Diven, MD

Highschool sunburn and skin cancer outreach program

The DIG went to Ball High for 3 weeks and taught over 300 high school students about sunburn, tanning, and skin cancer.


Students are happy to learn!


Medical students (DIG members) are happy to teach!


A special thanks to Ashley Group who came to every single session of the 3 weeks we spent at Ball High!

Womens Dermatological Society: Medical Student Awareness Program

Work with a leading dermatologist and learn about this fascinating field of medicine...Grants of up to $2000 each will be awarded to qualifying medical students interested in learning more about dermatology by working with a leading dermatologist in private practice or at the university level.

Deadline date for 2006 awards is December 31, 2005

For more information, please visit Womens Dermatological Society: Medical Student Awareness Program.

Trivial Pursuit for Doters of Dermatology (Round 1)

What skin disease does this King have in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven?"

Reintroducing the Tzanck Smear

Brent Kelly, MD will present on the Tzanck smear tomorrow at noon. Everyone interested is invited. The talk should be very educational and interesting.

When: Noon 5/25/05

Where: Dermatology Conference Room 4.112 McCullough

Congratulations to UTMB Residents!

Two of our UTMB dermatology residents have won awards at the Texas Dermatological Society this year:

Fall Jason Weaver, MD (Poster), 2nd Place


Spring Brent Kelly, MD (Presentation), 2nd Place
Reintroducing the Tzanck Smear

UTMB Dermpath course

UTMB will be having their annual Dermpath Course on 6/11 and 6/12/2005.
Students may attend for free, but they need to preregister with Amy Constantine.
Please email Amy (aeconsta@UTMB.EDU) if you wish to attend.

Recent Lectures

On 5/17/2005 Dr. Ted Rosen (Professor of Dermatology, Baylor College of Medicine) gave us a lecture about sarcoidosis.

On 5/18/2005 Dr. Jingwu Xie (Professor of Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UTMB Galveston) entititled “Glimpse at the hedgehog signaling in human cancer”



Jingwu Xie, PhD
Sealy Center for Cancer Cell Biology
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
UTMB

NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowships

The May 11, 2005 issue of JAMA (page 2298) has an announcement for NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowships. The first year is spent getting an MPH.

The contact information for the fellowship is: cpfpcoordinator@mail.nih.cov

Telephone: 301-496-8640

Online application: http://cancer.gov/prevention/pob

Congratulations to Molly Warthan, MD!

Congratulations to Molly Warthan, MD for her residency position appointment at Eastern Virginia Medical School (Norfolk) to begin in 2006 following a 1 year fellowship there. She makes 5 UTMB graduates who will begin dermatology residency training in 2006!

Edgar B. Smith, MD 6/2/1932 to 5/12/2005

It is with deep sadness that we report that Dr. Edgar B. Smith passed away early Thursday morning, May 12, 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Dr. Smith was the UTMB Dermatology Chair from 1978 until his retirement in 1999.



Saturday, May 14, 2005, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Visitation in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saturday, May 14, 2005, evening Dr. Smith flown to Houston, Texas

Sunday, May 15, 2005, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Visitation at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Main Street, Houston(across from the Warwick Hotel)

Monday, May 16, 2005, (time to be determined by St. Paul’s United Methodist Church) Funeral Services at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church

Obituary notices will appear in The Houston Chronicle and The Daily News of Galveston.

Memorials may be sent to:

Edgar B. Smith, M.D., Professorship in Dermatology
University of Texas Medical Branch
Department of Dermatology
301 University Blvd.
Galveston, Texas 77555-0783

Please forward this information to any friends, etc. who you feel knew Dr. Smith. Thank you.

Free Skin Cancer Screening

UTMB OFFERS FREE SKIN CANCER SCREENING, SATURDAY, MAY 7, AT THE FAMILY HEALTHCARE CENTER IN GALVESTON

GALVESTON, Texas-The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston Department of Dermatology will offer a free skin cancer screening on Saturday, May 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Family HealthCare Center. The center is located at 3828 Avenue N, in Galveston. Patients will be seen on a first come, first served basis and no appointment is necessary.

The UTMB screening is part of a national effort, coordinated by the American Academy of Dermatology and the American Cancer Society, to educate the public about the benefits of early skin cancer detection.

UTMB dermatologists will screen for cancerous or pre-cancerous growths. Patients who require further attention will be referred to their own physicians for follow-up care. The clinic will provide sunscreen samples, a list of dermatologists who practice in the Galveston/Houston area and literature on how to spot suspicious skin growths.

As DIG members our role will be to come and help out in any way we can passing out packets, signing in patients, and greeting them with a smile.

NSRF Dermatology Winners

Dermatology Poster Award: Jeanette Waller, UCI, "Relative Effects of Topical Keratolytic Ingredients in Man"
Of note: Ms. Waller was also awarded, NSRF Overall Poster Award, 1st place and the UTMB Clinical Research Award

UTMB Dermatology Oral Award: David Lee, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, "The Role of BRAF Oncogene in the Spitz Tumors"

Blog Brings Texas Dermatology Students Together

Check out--May 2005 , Vol. 36 , No. 5 of Skin and Allergy News

Blog Brings Texas Dermatology Students Together
by Mary Ellen Schneider

Our blog is featured on pg 58 of Skin and Allergy News

Basically the article talks about the site acts as an electronic newsletter and offers information on research, clinical experiences, and volunteer opportunities within the dermatology community. It highlights achievements by students, residents, and faculty at UTMB.

To view the whole article you can register for free and read that article and many more.

National Student Research Forum Starts Tomorrow!

Where: Levin Hall

When: Thursday and Friday April 28-29, 2005.

What:

DERMATOLOGY ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Thursday
Medicine

8:00 a.m. INJECTION OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN TYPE VII COLLAGEN RESTORES COLLAGEN FUNCTION IN DYSTROPHIC EPIDERMOLYSIS BULLOSA, B-1 Ramin Ram, DT Woodley, P Saadat, D Keene, K Lipman, W Li, M Chen, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine

9:15 a.m. UVL LIP AND SKIN PROTECTION, AWARENESS, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR, B - 6 Joshua R. Dimmick, T Uchida, RF Wagner, University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Oncology

10:30 a.m. THE ROLE OF THE BRAF ONCOGENE IN THE SPITZ TUMORS, F-3 David A. Lee, M Gill, DN Silvers, JT Celebi, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeon



DERMATOLOGY POSTERS

Poster 10 DRUG-INDUCED PHOTOTOXICITY AT GALVESTON ISLAND BEACHES, Sarah S. Dunn, T Uchida, RF Wagner, The University of Texas Medical Branch

Poster 11 OBSERVATIONS ON THE SOCIAL AND MEDICAL ASPECTS OF SCARIFICATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, Olubimpe A. Ayeni, R Jackson, University of Ottawa

Poster 12 TOBACCO-INDUCED DNA DAMAGE IN AN IN VITRO SKIN MODEL, Megan M. Boysen, A Krtolica, J-P Coppe, CH Sun, BJF Wong, University of California, Irvine College of Medicine

PHARMACOLOGY POSTERS
Poster 35 RELATIVE EFFECTS OF TOPICAL KERATOLYTICS IN MAN, Jeanette M. Waller, F Dreher, C Ford, C Lee, S Behnam, T Tiet, G Weinstein, HI Maibach, University of California, Irvine College of Medicine

Survey Results

Many thanks to all of those that participated in the DIG Web Blog evaluation survey.
We had 13/16 (81%) respond to the survey.

38% find the blog extremely useful
38% find the blog somewhat useful
8% find the blog not very useful and
15% have not opinion

23% check the blog once/day
8% check the blog several times/week
8% check the blog once/month
54% rarely check the blog
8% have never checked the blog

Residency information and monthly posts tie as the most useful feature of the blog, followed by links to dermatology resources and then department announcements.

The least useful feature was the comments section.

As far as comments for improvement these included:

1 I would like the comments section to be more active. In order for this to occur, more ideas need to be made to create discussion rather than simple posts. An idea is to perhaps have a virtual journal club where we review one article per month and then dicuss it and then maybe even invite the authors to leave comments. What do you all think?

2 We have the best DIG blog right now. Please keep up the good work and keep adding innovations like the ones that have been added throughout the first year of this blog.

3 I don't know!

4 The link should be posted on the main SOM organizations website for easier access.

5 no specific ways to improve maybe more posts by students who have matched, etc.

6 I think it's a great site with lots of information and honestly cannot think of things to improve it at this time.

7 I have only used the DIG website once, but the one time I did, I found it very easy to navigate and easy to find the answer to my question. I don't have any suggestions for improvement.

8 Unfortunately, as a first year I did not use the site that often and really do not have any constructive criticisms.



Thanks once more for your participation. Let's work together for another successful year of the DIG at UTMB.

dermreview.com

This new website has resources for students, residents, and patients. In addition, they are the founders of a new online journal called dermatologyreview.com. They are encouraging submissions and quickly publish articles written by medical students as well.

First Annual DIGA meeting February 19, 2005 | New Orleans, LA

Back row: Alex Eshaghian (Vanderbilt), Mark Suchter (Drexel), Matthew Molenda (NEOUCOM), Adriana Schmidt (Vanderbilt), Tasneem Poonawalla (UTMB); Front row: Ann Marqueling (UCSF), Priya Pajendran (UCSF), Jeanette Waller (UC Irvine), Kelly Werlinger (UTSW), Jessica Zmolik (UTSW)

Students from seven schools attended the first annual DIGA meeting on February 19, 2005 in New Orleans, LA. Representatives were present from Drexel University, Northeastern Ohio Universities College Of Medicine, University of California Irvine, University of California San Francisco, University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Vanderbilt University.

After the members introduced themselves, a general brainstorming session was held to map out the goals of this new organization. Some ideas included increasing medical student participation at national meetings, creating funding sources for research and travel for medical students, improving information dissemination regarding matching into a dermatology residency, and creating a forum for national networking.

All members agreed that one of DIGA’s core missions should be to promote community service. Several potential projects were discussed, but a consensus was reached that DIGA should coordinate a national Miles for Melanoma fundraising effort, in which students run marathons to raise money for the Melanoma Research Foundation. Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) initiated this program, and it has been very successful.

The Leadership Award was given to Jeanette Waller of UC Irvine for promoting the “Ask a Program Director” feature on the DIGA website.

A faculty member from NEOUCOM was present briefly to give advice on the challenges of matching into a dermatology program. Members were encouraged to recruit their Program Directors to join the Faculty Advisory Panel.

Miles for Melanoma

The DIG at Vanderbilt has been working on the Miles for Melanoma project based on the one at Drexel University. They have organized a project here at Vanderbilt and have raised a significant amount of money. This was discussed at the DIGA meeting in New Orleans. We can do this at our school to to be involved in the national effort.

Miles for Melanoma is a charity fundraiser where we have representative run marathons, half marathons, etc. to raise awareness for melanoma and to raise money for the Melanoma Research Foundation. For more information, please visit www.melanoma.org.

To begin this project at our school, the first thing we need to do is prepare an organizing committee. Then recruit runners (generally medical students), contact the marathon to inform them of your intent to have represntative run for our cause (check the marathon websites for contact information; for our marathon, for example, it was okay to use the name of the marathon on our brochures, but not the logo), contact Bill Marsch from the Melanoma Research Foundation (wrmarsch@earthlink.net) to inform him of your interest, prepare a brochure (attached, you would have to make a few minor changes such as the name of your race), and distribute them to your community. For more information about the project at Vanderbilt, please visit the activities link on the Vanderbilt Website.

The cities with marathons for our schools follows. Some of the dates have already passed and some are not until next year.

Emory - Atlanta, GA (11/24/2005)
Case Western & NEOUCOM - Cleveland, OH (5/22/2005)
Ohio State - Columbus, OH (10/16/2005)
UTSW - Dallas, TX (5/15/2005)
Duke - Durham, NC (none)
UT Galveston - Galveston, TX (none)
Dartmouth - Hanover, NH (4/18/2005--Boston)
Indiana - Indianapolis, IN (10/15/2005)
UC Irvine - Irvine, CA (3/6/2006--Los Angeles)
Vanderbilt - Nashville, TN (4/30/2005)
SUNY, Stony Brook - New York, NY (11/6/2005)
Drexel - Philadelphia, PA (11/21/2005)
UCSF - San Francisco, CA (7/31/2005)
St. Louis, MO (4/9/2005).

ASDP Call for Abstracts

The Call for Abstracts for the 42nd Annual Meeting of The American Society of Dermatopathology is open and available for your online submission through the ASDP Web site www.asdp.org. We urge you to prepare your abstract and submit it soon. There are only 9 weeks left until the June 15, 2005 deadline.

If you are a physician in training (resident or fellow in a dermpath fellowship program) you will qualify for the Physician in Training Award. Each year cash prizes are given to two oral abstract presenters and one poster presenter. Additionally, cash prizes are awarded to the first, second and third place winners of the Duel in Dermatopathology Resident Competition.

For those of you who are interested in submitting an abstract for the Dermatopathology First Year Fellows Poster program, please note that the deadline is August 15, 2005.

Check the Web site often for annual meeting updates. The annual meeting preliminary program will be distributed in June 2005 by postal mail with a copy available on the website.

DIG Meeting

The third DIG Meeting was full of information. We had one new member. The members in attendance included 1 first year, and 2 third years.

The 4th years that graciously conducted the Q&A session (Thank you Jamie Strahan, Jennifer Ray and Tasneem Poonawalla) emphasized Grades and AOA, Board Scores, Research, Being Nice to Everyone, Away Rotations.

Some interesting points the matched 4th years made on away rotations included:

Going to different regions to see what parts of dermatology you like for away rotations. For example one of the matched 4th years said that time at a VA hospital allowed for much independence and let him realize that dermatology was perfect for him.

Having research of some sort--does not necessarily have to be dermatology.

Going to foreign countries. One of the matched 4th years had gone to Germany for an away rotation and found that a unique experience to share on interviews.

It is a good idea to do away rotations to obtain recommendations from different programs.

The second half of the meeting was about the community service projects that DIG will be conducting which include:
1.UTMB's free skin cancer screening which will occur on the Saturday of Mother's Day Weekend
2. High school outreach program at Ball High, most likely in May of this year. The committee will meet to further discuss plans to make this happen in the near future.

DIG at Galveston County Health Fair

DIG at GCHF teaching sun safety


Dr. Dolphin at GCHF teaching sun safety


Melanoma is bad


Sun Safety is fun!

DIG Meeting

When: March 30, 2005 4-5 PM
Where: Dermatology Conference Room 4.112 McCullough
Agenda:
4:00-4:30 Q&A session with matched and unmatched 4th year medical students
4:30-5:00 Dates and Plans for Upcoming Community Service Projects

Class of 2006 UTMB Honors Program in Dermatology

Chad Crim
Project Title: “A Histopathologic Review Comparing Seborrheic Keratoses Excised by Dermatologists vs. Nondermatologists”
Dermatology Faculty Advisor: Dr. Richard Wagner

Emily Fridlington
Project Title: “Soft Tissue Vibrio Infections”
Dermatology Faculty Advisor: Dr. Erica Kelly

Joslyn Witherspoon
Project Title: “Public Health Efforts in the Prevention of Lip Cancer: Improving Awareness and Promoting Lip Protection Behavior”
Dermatology Faculty Advisor: Dr. Richard Wagner

Honors Thesis Results!

Congratulations to Jennifer Ray who was awarded Cum Laude graduation honors this afternoon by the Honors Program for Investigating the Role of Alcohol Consumption on Increased Phototoxicity!

Congratulations to those matched at UTMB!

Pedi Derm Cameron Coury--UT Houston
Josh Dimmick--UT Houston
Julie Sracic--UTMB

Congratulations to the Matches of 2005!

4th year medical students from UTMB that matched:

Amy McClung--Baylor
Jennifer Ray--Mayo Rochester
Jamie Strahan--University of Colorado

DIG at UTMB Skin Cancer Screening

UTMB will be offering its annual free skin cancer screening.

When: Saturday, May 7th, 2005 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where:Family HealthCare Center (3828 Avenue N)
Who: In the past UTMB medical students have volunteered to help residents and faculty screen for skin cancer

Future medical student involvement at the AAD

For next year’s American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting, DIGA would
like to have more medical student involvement in the symposia and
forums. In order to support the idea that medical students are in fact
interested in being involved in the AAD, DIGA would like to include a list
of names of medical students.

Please send an email to Priya Rajendran prajendr@itsa.ucsf.edu , if you give permission to include your name (Please include your full name and
medical school).

Honors Thesis Results!

Congratulations to Amy Ayres McClung who was awarded Summa Cum Laude graduation honors this afternoon by the Honors Program for Behavioral Disorders in Tanners!

Article on Medical Student Research

Wagner RF Jr, Ioffe Boris. Medical student dermatology research in the United States. Dermatology Online Journal 11(1):8, 2005.

Dr. Wagner's article addresses the development of academic resesarch to encourage dermatology trainees into academic practice in the United States. His survey showed that first- and second-year medical students participated in research, but participation significantly increased during the third and fourth years. Institutional funding of medical-student research appears to be of critical importance with regard to the ability of medical students to present their research findings at meetings.

Galveston County Health Fair

We are scheduled to participate in the Galveston County Health Fair, Saturday, March 5th 2005, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will be teaching about sun safety and skin cancer. Hope to see you there!

Location: Academy Sports & Outdoors (Seawall and 45th Street), Galveston. The fair will take place in a tented area of the parking lot.

Parking: Available on site.

Exhibitor Check-in: Exhibitor check-in will open at 7:30 a.m. Please look for the designated table at the entrance of the fair to receive your table/location assignment.

Set-up: All exhibitors must be set up by 8:30 a.m.

Tear-down: All materials must be removed by 2 p.m.

Specifications: (1) 6-foot covered and skirted table and 2 chairs will be provided

Attire: Comfortable, professional, weather-appropriate attire. UTMB representatives should wear department/program shirts or general UTMB shirt.

Honors Thesis Presentation Announcement

Honors Thesis Presentation on Investigating the Role of Alcohol Consumption on Increased Phototoxicity.
Who: Presented by Jennifer Ray, MSIV
When: 3/18/05 3:00 to 5:00pm
Where: 4.112 McCullough (Dermatology Conference Room)