The University of Massachusetts Medical School Dermatology
Residency Program celebrates its twentieth anniversary
in 2011. The program is based in Worcester, Massachusetts, the
second-largest city in New England, in an ethnically and socioeconomically
diverse region.
The program has grown over the past 20 years to a full complement
of nine residents working with 11 clinical attendings
and two dermatopathologists (Figure 1). Fellowships are
available in Mohs micrographic surgery, pediatric dermatology
and dermatopathology.
The academic offices and all ambulatory facilities, excluding
the V.A. clinic, are located at the Hahnemann campus, where
residents spend 90 percent of their time. On-site facilities include
a phototherapy suite as well as six lasers. Residents
participate in a weekly rotation at the Department of Veterans
Affairs Worcester Outpatient Clinic (V.A.). Inpatient consultations
are performed at the two local affiliate hospitals of the
University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Practicing at only two ambulatory sites allows our residents to
maintain continuity of care for their patients, which is critical as
95 percent of clinics are “continuity clinics.” General medical,
pediatric and outpatient surgery clinics are continuity clinics
that continue for the three years of residency and are not on a
rotational basis.
Specialty clinics, also mostly in this continuity format, include
Mohs micrographic surgery, contact dermatitis, laser and cosmetic
surgery, genodermatosis clinic and epidermolysis bullosa
clinic. Chief residents also have the opportunity to participate in
regional nail and sclerotherapy clinics.
Residents participate in clinical care for seven half-days per
week, with the remainder of their time spent in educational activities.
Core lectures are presented by attendings and cover
major subjects in medical, pediatric, basic science, cosmetic
and surgical dermatology. In addition to formal lectures, resi-
