Resident Rounds: Part I – Program Spotlight: Department of Dermatology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Located in Cleveland Ohio, the Department of Dermatology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC) is energetically led by Kevin Cooper MD, chairman and program director. The Department offers a residency that is accredited by a unique combination of both the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Osteopathic Association, and currently trains 12 MD and 6 DO residents. The Department also offers a nurse practitioner residency, a research intensive resident track with opportunity for National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grant support, and fellowships in Mohs micrographic surgery, cutaneous oncology, clinical trials, immunodermatology, psoriasis, and photobiology.

The foundation of the residents’ clinical training occurs in general dermatology clinics located at 8 clinical sites in the Cleveland area. Resident education is further enriched at a number of subspecialty clinics with national reputations in cutaneous oncology, autoimmune blistering diseases, contact dermatitis, advanced reconstructive surgery, venous disease, and vascular anomalies. Residents also actively participate in a weekly multidisciplinary cutaneous lymphoma and melanoma tumor board at UHCMC, with faculty from cutaneous, medical, surgical, and radiation oncology, otolaryngology, dermatologic surgery, and dermatopathology.

A highlight of resident training is the emphasis placed on longitudinal patient care, where residents participate in a weekly continuity clinic with the opportunity to manage follow-up visits and schedule procedures. A citywide Grand Rounds conference is held weekly, where residents and faculty from 3 dermatology programs in Cleveland join together to share interesting cases and discuss patients with diagnostic uncertainty.

In addition, the Department is committed to research excellence, and for the last 20 years has consistently ranked in the top 10 in NIH funding for all dermatology departments nationwide. The Skin Diseases Research Center (SDRC) exemplifies the Department’s collaborative and translational research philosophy, striving to unite animal and human skin investigation in a number of clinical domains, including, among others, psoriasis, cutaneous lymphoma and melanoma, rosacea, microbial disease, epithelial and hair biology, and monocyte/macrophage-mediated skin inflammation. The SDRC is joined by the Center for Medical Mycology, the Skin Cancer Research Institute, and the Murdough Family Center for Psoriasis to provide a multidisciplinary approach to training physicians, nurses, and PhD scientists in the study of skin disease.

In summary, the Department is continually expanding and evolving to meet the demands of an increasingly complex health care system, while providing a collegial environment for dermatology and skin biology training with an extremely positive and dynamic esprit de corps, and maintaining nationwide excellence in patient care, research, and resident education.

The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose.