UTMB Welcome Weekend

The UTMB Welcome Weekend Community Fair was a huge success. Many student organizations and local businesses were present to meet and greet incoming UTMB students. The UTMB Dermatology Interest Group is excited to welcome nearly 50 new blog subscribers who signed up during the event!


Thank you to the UTMB DIG Community Service Chairs, Ryan Riahi (Left) and André Pitt (Right), and Second Year Rep, Will Tausend (Middle), for recruiting new members at this event!

UTMB Family Medicine Teaching Dermatology Procedures at Primary Care Pavillion

Please see link for the upcoming teaching session for medical students on primary care procedures at the Primary Care Pavillion on September 15, 2011. http://fammed.utmb.edu/home/pcp2.aspx

DIG Poison Ivy Community Education Project Unfunded

The UTMB DIG has received news that the UTMB President’s Cabinet was unable to provide funding for their “Elusive Ivy” proposal. A number of positive comments were received, including, “Liked the student initiated program.” Thanks to our proposal author, Chelsea Altinger and Drs. Lindsey Hunter and Richard Wagner for their help.

UTMB Dermatologist, Dr. Erica Kelly, Gives Advice in Fitness Magazine

UTMB's Dr. Erica Kelly gives advice in the September 2011 Fitness Magazine article "beat-the-clock beauty". She recommends keeping a face powder with SPF in your bag to dust over your skin when it's time to reapply sunscreen.

See the full article here: beat-the-clock beauty.

UTMB’s New Hospital

UTMB President David Callender announced today the University of Texas System Board of Regents has approved a new Jennie Sealy Hospital in Galveston that is scheduled to open in 2016. The new hospital will cost $438 million. The Sealy & Smith Foundation has pledged $170 million. The Texas Legislature has approved a $150 million Tuition Revenue Bond for this purpose. UTMB will fund $118 million for construction costs, and plans to raise $100 million through philanthropy. For additional information, please see http://www.utmb.edu/president/messages/.

UTMB Dermatology Residency Alum Publishes Paper

Congratulations to Dr. Renée Y. Cobos for publishing a paper entitled “Prevalence of nasal staphylococcus aureus colonization in a dermatology practice and implications for care” in the August 2011 (Volume 8) issue of Practical Dermatology (pages 32-4, 36). The study reported that 14% of her study patients had nasal cultures that were positive for S. aureus. Topical mupirocin therapy and oral antibiotic treatment were offered to subjects with positive nasal cultures. Dr. Cobos completed her dermatology residency at UTMB in 1989. She is in private dermatology practice in Fullerton, California.

New Melanoma Drug Approved by the FDA

The FDA approved Zelboraf (vemurafenib) today for the treatment of metastatic or unresectable melanoma. The drug specifically targets tumors that express BRAF V600E gene mutation, seen in a number of patients with late-stage melanoma. This has been an exciting year in the treatment of late-stage melanoma as Zelboraf is the second of the newly approved drugs to show improvement in overall survival.

For more information see the FDA News Release.

UTMB Dermatopathology Adopts Intellipath

Intellipath is a software system designed specifically for dermatopathology. This system allows us to improve reporting of biopsies, excisions, etc. by decreasing turnaround time, creating accurate and easy to read reports, and delivery of these reports back to the clinician in a customizable, user-friendly format. For example, reports can be delivered to a referring dermatologist via e-mail, secure fax, downloading from the internet (secured site) or interfacing with electronic medical records. The system also allows the lab to keep track of specimen bottles, blocks and slides using a bar code system. It helps reduce time entering data from lab and clerical personnel. Referring physicians notice a decreased turnaround time (time from when the biopsy is received in the lab to the time the report is delivered to them). In fact, turnaround time for routine cases is 1 day!!

Don’t Miss This

Dr. Brent Kelly (left rocker in picture) and his band Zaemon will be performing at their 20^th Anniversary Reunion at The Varsity Theatre on Friday at 9 pm on September 2nd in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to kick off Labor Day Weekend. For more information, please see the band’s facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zaemon/170248179699665?sk=app_178091127385
All are welcome!

Thanks Ms. Keeswood!

Ms. Marianne Keeswood is the “go to” person in the UTMB Dermatology Department when a UTMB medical student wants to take a dermatology selective or elective course. She will check to see if there is still availability in the course, now that there is a new maximum enrollment of three students in UTMB didactic dermatology selective and elective courses. She will also be able to help students find another dermatology course to take if there is no longer availability for the student’s first choice class. Students interested in adding or dropping dermatology electives or selectives should email her with their C-Form.

Meet the 2011-2012 UTMB Dermatology Residents

http://www.utmb.edu/dermatology/residents_fellows/current_residents.html

BSHS Selective “Narratives of Skin Diseases” DERU-4012 Now Available All Periods

Dr. Wagner’s popular BSHS Selective, “Narratives of Skin Diseases” (DERU-4012) is now available during all Periods, starting with Period 3 that begins on August 22, 2011. Due to budgetary cutbacks at UTMB, the maximum student enrollment for each Period is limited to 3. For the past two years, this class was only available during Period 13.

UTMB Dermatology Increases Maximum Enrollment in History of Dermatology Class (DERU-4008)

It did not take long for the UTMB Dermatology Department to increase its maximum student enrollment from 2 to 3 students in the History of Dermatology elective (DERU-4008) for all Periods starting Period 3, which begins on August 22, 2011. However, it is unlikely that further class size increases will occur due to current budgetary issues.

The Turner Syndrome Society Houston Chapter learns how to "Stay Shady!"

The UTMB DIG would like to thank the Turner Syndrome Society Houston Chapter for inviting us to present "Stay Shady!" at their summer gathering at Moody Gardens last weekend. Families with children ages 2 to 16-years-old learned about the importance of sun protection and helpful tips to reduce skin cancer risk. After the presentation, audience members took our message to heart for a safe and fun day in the sun at Palm Beach.

UTMB DIG Officers Rebecca Philips (MS4, left), Ryan Riahi (MS4, middle) and Chelsea Altinger (MS3, right) present “Stay Shady!”

For more information about the Turner Syndrome Society Houston Chapter, visit their website: http://www.turnersupport.org/.

New UTMB Elective and Selective Changes Announced

Due to state cuts in funding for medical student education, UTMB has recently made changes in the way departments earn teaching credits for nonclinical electives and selectives during the MS3 and MS4 years. This change will have a big impact on didactic courses offered by the UTMB Department of Dermatology. Fortunately, students already registered in these courses for the current 2011-2011 academic year are not impacted by these new guidelines. However, students still hoping to add or drop some of these electives may potentially be.

The first big change that students will notice during the current academic year is that they will not be able to add any dermatology didactic electives if there are already three students enrolled in the class. That is because according to UTMB’s new guidelines, departments will only receive teaching credit for up to 3 students per course. In the future when Ms. Keeswood receives a C Form request to add a dermatology selective or elective, she will first check to see if the there are already three or more students in the class. If there are already three or more students in the class, she will not be able to approve the C Form request. In addition, students requiring C Form permission for a late drop of a class where there are 3 or less students will not be given permission to drop unless there is another student on the class waiting list who still wants to take the class.

During the next academic year, this change will probably have a greater impact on students. The maximum class enrollment for didactic dermatology electives and selectives will be limited to 3 students for each class. This will have the biggest impact on the two popular dermatology film classes (elective DERU-4007 and selective DERU-4051). About 150 students took these two classes during the past 2009-2010 academic year. Next year only 6 students per Period (3 in each section) will be permitted to register for these classes, for a maximum annual enrollment of 78 students. Students interested in taking either of these courses during the next academic year are advised to pre-register for them during the spring enrollment period. Sadly, over-enrollments will not be permitted for any elective or selective beyond the maximum enrollment permitted.

The UTMB Dermatology Department hopes to create additional courses to address anticipated medical student demand for the next academic year. The UTMB Dermatology Interest Group (DIG) blog plans to keep everyone posted as these updates become available.

Dr. Garland Anderson, UTMB Executive Vice President, Provost, and SOM Dean Resigns

Dr. Garland Anderson has announced his resignation as UTMB’s Executive Vice President, Provost and SOM Dean effective August 31, 2011. UTMB President David Callender has appointed Dr. Cary Cooper, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences as the Interim Executive Vice President and Provost, and Dr. Don Prough, Chair of Anesthesiology, as the Interim Dean for the School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper and Ms. Donna Sollenberger, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of UTMB’s Health System will co-chair the search for a new SOM Dean. For additional information, please see http://gsbs.utmb.edu/_pdf/announcementAug04.pdf

ACGME Gravely Concerned About Proposed Medicare Cuts In Graduate Medical Education

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has published a letter detailing their grave concerns about the future of graduate medical education in the United States and its possible consequences if the proposed drastic cuts in educational funding for residents become a reality. For additional information, please see http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/home/ACGME_Statement_on_Medicare_GME_Reimbursement.pdf

Texas Legislature Slashes $114 Million from UTMB's 2012 Budget

According to the Houston Chronicle, UTMB will be forced to let 250 employees go, including about 120 from the academic enterprise.

See the article for more information: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7661858.html.

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

Period 4 Opening for UTMB’s Dermatology Acting Internship (AI)

A UTMB MS4 or visiting medical student may want to take advantage of an unusual opening in UTMB's Dermatology 4 week long AI (DERU-4006) for Period 4, which starts on Monday, September 19 through October 14. Additional information about this elective is available at http://ar.utmb.edu/04-05review/bdisplay.asp?rec=499. This new elective received accolades from 5 of our UTMB medical students during the last academic year, all of whom matched into a dermatology residency. For further information, please contact the UTMB Registrar.

Period 1 Opening for UTMB’s Dermatology Acting Internship (AI)

A UTMB MS4 or a visiting medical student may want to take advantage of an unusual opening in UTMB’s Dermatology AI (DERU-4006) for Period 1, which starts on Monday, June 27th. Additional information about this elective is available at http://ar.utmb.edu/04-05review/bdisplay.asp?rec=499 . This new elective received accolades from 5 of our UTMB medical students during the last academic year, all of whom matched into a dermatology residency. For further information, please contact the UTMB Registrar.

2011 UTMB Dermatology PGY4s Graduate

Congratulations (from left to right) to Drs. Mika Yamazaki, David Raimer, John Stephens and Matt Petitt! Dr. Yamazaki will practice in Honolulu, Dr. Raimer will take a Procedural Dermatology Fellowship in Birmingham (UAB), Dr. Stephens will practice in Indianapolis, and Dr. Petitt will join a practice in Pasadena, TX that combines clinical dermatology with dermatopathology. Thanks for contributing so much to our dermatology program over the past three years! Y'all will be greatly missed!

Dr. John Stephens’ Championship Seasons at UTMB

Congratulations to Dr. John Stephens for his excellent year in UTMB Intramurals. He was on the championship teams in both the Basketball and Flag Football Intramural Leagues, with a combined record of 25-1. Prior to this year, Dr. Stephens had made it to the championship in Flag football the past two years and had won the Basketball Intramural League for the past two years. He earned varsity letters in two sports (football and baseball) while an undergraduate student at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Dr. Stephens will be returning to Indiana for private dermatology practice soon.

Dr. Audra Clos Publishes JAAD Paper about Amyloidosis

Congratulations to Dr. Clos and her coauthors (Christian Lasagna-Reeves and Drs. Brent Kelly, Richard Wagner, Michael Wilkerson, George Jackson, and Rakez Kayed) for their JAAD paper, “Role of oligomers in the amyloidogenesis of primary cutaneous amyloidosis.” The citation for this research is doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2010.09.735 . Dr. Clos will begin dermatology residency at UTMB in July 2012 following a dermatology research fellowship at MD Anderson.

Dr. Matt Petitt Recognized by UTMB Dermatology Faculty for Best Research by a PGY4 Dermatology Resident

Congratulations to Dr. Petitt! Thanks for all of the research support and expertise that you provided to DIG members during your dermatopathology fellowship and dermatology residency at UTMB.

UTMB SOM Class of 2011 MS4 Awards

Four UTMB MS4s were recognized for their academic excellence in dermatology at the weekly journal club. This year’s awardees were Brett Blakeway (Beiersdorf History of Dermatology Award), Auris Huen (Best Original Essay Award for Skin Diseases Depicted in Cinema Course), Michaela Marek (Thomas B. Freese Award for Overall Excellence in Dermatology, missing from photos), and Lindsey Hunter (Edgar B. Smith Endowed Scholarship Award for Excellent Dermatology Research by a Medical Student). Auris, Michaela, and Lindsey will begin dermatology residencies following completion of their PGY1 year. Brett will begin residency in anesthesiology at the University of Oklahoma. The SOM Class of 2011 will graduate on June 4, 2011. Congratulations!

Brett Blakeway and Auris Huen with Dr. Wagner

Lindsey Hunter with Dr. Raimer

UTMB’s Clinical Dermatology Elective DERU-4010

Dr. John Stephens gave a presentation of his scholarly project to the dermatology department this morning. Part of the presentation summarized the DERU-4010 Clinical Dermatology elective ( http://ar.utmb.edu/04-05review/bdisplay.asp?rec=339 ) under the direction of Dermatology Chair, Dr. Sharon Raimer. DERU-4010 is offered every Period at UTMB to 4 UTMB medical students, visiting medical students and/or UTMB PA students. The majority of students taking this elective were MS4s intending on primary care specialties. Students taking this elective received one faculty lecture and one resident lecture on dermatology topics each week of the elective. There was a 25 question multiple choice examination that reflected previously seen lecture slides and topics that the students had been exposed to during the rotation (mean score = 91%, range = 76-100%). Student comments about the elective were positive overall:

— “This was a great rotation to take for those going into internal medicine. Thank You!”
— “Great teaching by residents and faculty. Really appreciated Dr. Brent Kelly’s impromptu teaching sessions.”
— “Great rotation with a lot of teaching by residents and faculty. Learned a lot about common derm complaints that will benefit me later in practice.”
— “ I would like to see more cosmetic derm.”
— “I enjoyed being able to participate in journal club on Fridays. The lectures by faculty and residents were very helpful because they particularly focused on common dermatological problems.”
— “I enjoyed the lectures, most rotations don’t offer that.”
— “Everyone was incredibly nice and helpful. Great group of residents. Lots of opportunity for students to get involved and perform procedures.”
— “Rotation helped very much with basic pediatrics problems.”
— “ I enjoyed working with faculty and residents. I learned a great deal that will be helpful to me in internal medicine.”
— “I loved this rotation! I want to work (as a PA) in the ER for a couple of years and eventually work in derm!”

UTMB Dermatology Residents Announce 2011 Teaching Awards

Residents’ Award for Excellent Dermatology Faculty Teaching: Erica B. Kelly, MD

Residents’ Award for Excellent Teaching by a Community Dermatologist: Ramon Sanchez, MD

Congratulations to these awardees!

UTMB DIG Interest in Poison Ivy Education and Prevention

UTMB DIG vice president Chelsea Altinger and immediate past president Lindsey Hunter have collaborated with faculty advisor Dr. Richard Wagner to submit a proposal, “Elusive Ivy” to The President’s Cabinet at UTMB requesting funding for an innovative community service project to educate people in Galveston County about the recognition and avoidance of poison ivy in the local environment. Poison ivy is a leading, but preventable cause of severe contact dermatitis. Winning proposals should be awarded by September 1^st. Thanks for taking the initiative to help educate Galveston natives and visitors about how to avoid this noxious plant!