UTMB Dermatology Opens Clinic in Bay Colony Town Center, League City, Texas

The new UTMB dermatology clinic at Bay Colony (2785 Gulf Freeway South, Suite 165, the same shopping center as HEB and 24 Hour Fitness in League City, just west of I-45) has just opened. This clinic is conveniently located to the quickly 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.

Stay Shady! Visits Odyssey Academy's Third Graders!

This past Friday, December 4th, DIG members Rebecca Philips, Lindsey Hunter, and Janese Laster presented Stay Shady! to the third grade class at Odyssey Academy. Students learned the importance of skin protection during all seasons of the year.

A big thank you to Odyssey Academy for hosting our team and for being such a wonderful and interactive audience! If you would like to participate in the next Stay Shady! event, e-mail DIG's Community Outreach Chair, Rebecca Philips (rcphilip@utmb.edu), for further information.

Medical Student Expectations for Away Dermatology Rotations

What should medical student rotators expect from their away dermatology rotations? Visiting students on an away dermatology elective should gain exposure to another dermatology department or division with different faculty and residents, and have the opportunity for professional interactions that may create additional career networking opportunities. Sadly, the national trend seems to be moving away from automatic interview offers for away dermatology rotators due to the increased competition from outstanding applicants and limited departmental/division resources for interview slots. However, since previous educational research in dermatology indicates that dermatology residency programs are most likely to match with either their own students or visiting students doing away electives with them, away rotations can help applicants obtain residency positions. This observation suggests that some programs may place greater emphasis on longer term interactions with dermatology applicants than excellent paper credentials and a one or two day interview. The bottom line is that away dermatology rotations may open some interview doors for applicants, but it is no longer automatic!

UTMB Dermatology Consolidates 3 Mainland Clinics at New Bay Colony Site

On Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, the three UTMB Dermatology clinics in Dickinson, League City, and Texas City will consolidate into one new location: University Dermatology at Bay Colony in League City, 2785 Gulf Freeway South, Suite 165 (next to 24 Hour Fitness at I-45 and FM 646). The phone number is (281) 534-3376.

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

Second Year UTMB Medical Student Publishes Dermatology Educational Research

The UTMB Dermatology Interest Group sends out congratulations to our Community Outreach Chair and second year medical student, Rebecca Philips. Rebecca has just published her comprehensive survey about dermatology electives for upper level medical students (Philips RC, Dhingra N, Uchida T, Wagner RF Jr. The "Away" Dermatology Elective for Visiting Medical Students: Educational Opportunities and Barriers. Dermatology Online Journal 15(10):1, October 2009) as the lead article. Her UTMB MS4 coauthor, Navin Dhingra, began this research in 2007 during the UTMB Medical Student Summer Research Program (MSSRP) and presented preliminary data at the 2007 annual MSSRP poster session. Rebecca enlarged the scope of Navin's initial project and gathered new data this summer, also working under the UTMB Medical Student Summer Research Program. The research was supported in part through the Edgar B. Smith Professorship. Her article provides lots of useful information about doing an away dermatology elective at another academic institution as a visiting medical student. The entire article is available at: http://dermatology-s10.cdlib.org/1510/originals/away_curriculum/wagner.html

UTMB IRB Approves Resident Initiated Dermoscopy Study

Dr. Matt Petitt, a second year UTMB dermatology resident, was notified by the UTMB IRB that his human subject research study proposal, "The Predictive Value of Dermoscopy for the In Vivo Assessment of Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer Margins," has been approved. He is the Principal Investigator on this study, that will be conducted during his upcoming 4 month rotation on Mohs at UTMB. His goal is to determine if dermoscopy aids in the accuracy of clinical margin assessment prior to Stage I Mohs excision. His UTMB dermatology faculty supervisor on this research is Dr. Richard Wagner.

More UTMB Dermatopathology Success!

Dr. Cecilia Rosales has passed the 2009 dermatopathology certification examination on the first attempt and is now board certified in dermatopathology. Congratulations!

UTMB Mohs Surgeon Appointed to Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery

Dr. Richard Wagner, our UTMB Dermatology Program Director and Mohs Surgeon, has recently received a secondary appointment to the UTMB Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery as Professor. Currently, all third year plastic surgery residents at UTMB have a required one month rotation with him on the Mohs service, where skin cancers are treated with Mohs surgery and wound reconstructions are performed the same day with primary closures, skin grafts and local skin flaps. Dr. Wagner has been a full-time faculty on the UTMB Dermatology Faculty since 1988 and he is the Edgar B. Smith Professor of Dermatology and Deputy Chair of Dermatology. He also holds a secondary appointment in the UTMB Department of Otolaryngology as Professor.

Congratulations Dr. Parekh

Palak Parekh, MD, a current UTMB dermatopathology fellow and recent graduate from the dermatology residency program at Texas A&M Medical Center/Scott & White Clinic in Temple, Texas, has passed the American Board of Dermatology certification examination on her first attempt. She is now a Diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology.

Dr. Berlingeri-Ramos Board Certified in Dermatopathology

Dr. Alma Berlingeri-Ramos recently received notification that she has passed the 2009 dermatopathology certification examination on the first attempt and is now board certified in dermatopathology. She is now "double-boarded" in dermatology and in dermatopathology. Congratulations!

All 2009 Graduating UTMB Dermatology Residents Pass Certification Examination

Congratulations to our 2009 UTMB dermatology residency graduates, Drs. Julie Brantley and Josh Dimmick. Both have passed the American Board of Dermatology (ABD) certification examination on the first attempt and are now Diplomates of the American Board of Dermatology. This is the 9th consecutive year that all UTMB graduating dermatology residents have passed their "boards" on the first try.

DIG Success at BP Health and Safety Fair

DIG members enjoyed volunteering at the 6th Annual BP Children’s Safety & Health Fair this weekend at Mall of Mainland. Thank you to 2nd year Rebecca Philips, 3rd years Kenne Ogunmakin and Lindsey Hunter, and 4th year Alison Wiesenthal for making this event such a success!

(L to R) DIG President Alison Wiesenthal and Community Service Chair Rebecca Philips volunteering Saturday morning at the Health and Safety Fair.

17 Days Left to Apply for a PGY-2 UTMB Dermatology Residency Position Starting in 2011

The UTMB Dermatology Department has a November 1, 2009 application deadline for the 3 NRMP PGY-2 dermatology residency positions being offered that start in July 2011. Applications must be complete by November 1, 2009 in order to be considered, and must be submitted through ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service). No late applications will be considered. Application review will begin on November 2, 2009 for one day interviews of 20-30 outside applicants that are scheduled for February 4th or 5th, 2010.

Volunteers Needed for BP Children’s Health & Safety Fair

DIG will be participating in the BP Children’s Health & Safety Fair this Saturday, October 17. Come help us present Stay Shady! and make UV Bead bracelets with the children.

6th Annual Children’s Safety & Health Fair
Date: October 17, 2009
Time: 10am – 3pm
Place: Mall of the Mainland
Set-up time: 7-9:30am ~ Breakdown time: 3pm
Age Range: 0-99
Anticipated attendance: 2500

Interested in volunteering? E-mail Alison Wiesenthal at acwiesen@utmb.edu.

DIG Meeting Recap 10-08-09

DIG held its second successful videoconference this afternoon. Thanks to all who attended our meeting about dermatology honors research. For a copy of the handout, please visit the Honors Research Program website at http://www.som.utmb.edu/current/Description%20Honors%20Program.pdf.

Thank you to the fourth years for sharing their insights and to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years for their great questions! Please feel free to contact us throughout the year. We are here to help!

Alison Wiesenthal
UTMB DIG Co-President
acwiesen@utmb.edu

Are Away Dermatology Rotations Helpful in Matching for a Dermatology Residency?

Yes, according to a study published in 2006 (Clark JT, Miller JJ, Sceppa J, et al. Success in the dermatology residency match in 2003: perceptions and importance of home institutions and away rotations. Arch Dermatol 2006;142:930-932). In this study, 53% of dermatology matches were at the applicants' home school or at a place where they did an away rotation. This study seems to mirror recent NRMP dermatology match experiences of UTMB students applying for dermatology residencies. UTMB students who are thinking about taking away dermatology rotations in their senior year are encouraged to prepare early, since away positions are limited and some have an application deadline.

UTMB Dermatology Residents Enjoy Texas Friday Night Lights

Former DePauw University football pass reception leader Dr. John Stephens and his wife enjoy a traditional Friday Night Lights at Galveston's Ball High School Kermit Courville Stadium last week. The Indiana natives were accompanied by UTMB dermatology residents who were formerly from Hawaii and Oklahoma.

Does a Dermatology Fellowship Increase the Chances for a Dermatology Residency Position?

Last September the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published a Research Letter that addressed this question (Wasong SJ, Miller JJ, Zaenglein AL, Does a predermatology fellowship increase the chance to match in dermatology? J Am Acad Dermatol 2008;59:535-536). The authors contacted 46 preresidency fellowships and surveyed the fellowship directors and the fellow(s). There were responses from 26 (57%) fellowship directors The fellowship directors indicated that 176 of 190 (92%) past fellows obtained dermatology residencies. Of the current dermatology fellows who sought a dermatology residency, 24/27 (88.9%) indicated success. According to the authors, dermatology match statistics from 2005 showed that 57.8% of dermatology applicants matched into a dermatology residency. The authors concluded that "Participating in a preresidency dermatology fellowship appears to increase one's chances of subsequently matching to a dermatology residency program."

DIG Meeting Thursday 5 pm

Interested in research? Interested in doing a Dermatology Honors Thesis?

Please join us for our DIG meeting this Thursday, October 8th at 5:00 PM in the Department of Dermatology's conference room (4.112 McCullough Building). Fourth year students currently involved in honors research will be discussing their experiences with the program. This will be a great opportunity for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students to learn about the process.

If you are in Austin or any other location and interested in joining us, contact Alison Wiesenthal at acwiesen@utmb.edu. See you Thursday!

Stay Shady! Presents at Odyssey Academy

This past Tuesday, September 29, DIG members presented Stay Shady! to the fourth graders at Odyssey Academy. Thank you to our Community Service Coordinator, Rebecca Philips, for setting this up.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to help out with Stay Shady! or e-mail Alison Wiesenthal acwiesen@utmb.edu if you have a school in mind that would benefit from our Sun Protection Children's Education Project.