Program Spotlight: University of Connecticut Dermatology Residency

The University of Connecticut Department of Dermatology was originally established in 1980 as a Division of the Department of Medicine to meet the dermatologic healthcare needs of Connecticut citizens through education, service, and research. Two years ago, the department moved to a brand new 25,000 square foot office space just minutes from John Dempsey Hospital. Our new building houses our multiple outpatient clinics, large Mohs surgery suite, phototherapy suite, laser suite, and dermatopathology lab, as well as the 20 assistant, associate, and full professors who comprise our teaching faculty. We have an inpatient consultation service at John Dempsey Hospital that services the hospital's medical/surgical patients, neonatal intensive care unit, and the state's Department of Corrections. Our long standing specialty clinics include melanoma, pediatric dermatology, and podiatry, and we have recently added two new specialty clinics focusing on cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and vulvar dermatology. Finally, many of our faculty are involved in clinical trials and are publishers in world-class journals.

Our residency program is relatively young, currently in its 5th year of existence. Our recent graduates have gone into academics, private practice, and pediatric dermatology fellowship. The majority of our clinical, surgical, and academic education is done at the main office in Farmington, CT, but we also work at the Veterans Hospital in Newington, CT as well as the St. Francis dermatology clinic in Hartford, CT, the complement of which provides us exposure to a diverse demographic population of patients and pathology. We have recently begun to collaborate with Yale's Department of Dermatology and residency program, further increasing our exposure and training, and all of our residents are active volunteers in the community. Although we are a state-sponsored program, we are fortunate to have many active private practice community dermatologists who regularly lecture, coordinate hands-on teaching, and staff our continuity clinics.

We invite anyone to come spend time with us and experience dermatology in the Farmington Valley. We are optimistic that as you learn about our program, you will share our enthusiasm. We have accomplished so much as a residency in just 5 years, but this is only the beginning. We are already planning on increasing our complement of residents and are working to create a Mohs fellowship. The future is bright!