CASE REPORT
The University of Louisville Division of Dermatology
is located in Louisville, Kentucky. The Division consists
of four full-time faculty and over 30 faculty and
volunteer clinicians, headed by one of the most well-known
members in the field of dermatology, Jeffrey P. Callen. The
Division includes two micrographic surgeons, seven dermatopathologists,
two cosmetic dermatologists, two pediatric
dermatologists and numerous clinical dermatologists from
Louisville and the state at large. The program currently employs
seven residents (Figure 1).
Residents receive a balance of clinical experience and didactic
learning. In addition to the clinics at the Louisville
VA Hospital, the University of Louisville Hospital, and Kosair
Children's Hospital, residents rotate through a variety
of private dermatology offices to learn about practice management,
surgical and cosmetic procedures and complex
medical dermatology. Residents also perform surgeries at the
VA Hospital two to three times a month. When the residents
are not in clinic, they have many other learning opportunities,
including weekly Grand Rounds, journal club, and the
chief resident book club. The dermatopathology instruction
is particularly strong, with weekly “unknown” sessions, pathology
lectures and slide review of residents' own biopsies
as well as periodic clinical pathologic conferences.
In their first year, residents learn general dermatology and
spend one afternoon a week with a micrographic surgeon
to improve their surgical skills. First-year residents also begin
taking VA inpatient consults during the day. As residents
move into their second year, they focus on complex medical
dermatology. By participating in weekly clinic with Dr. Callen,
second-year residents learn how to manage patients from all
over the world who have diseases with systemic and dermatologic
manifestations through the use of immunosuppressive
medications. Second-year residents also see consults at up
to five different local hospitals and spend four weeks working
closely with micrographic surgeons to learn the intricacies
of taking, marking and examining specimens and practicing
complex closures. Finally, in their third year, residents slowly
transition to the independent practice of dermatology by
working one-on-one with private attendings, who teach them
to perform surgical and cosmetic procedures independently.
They also take part in focused board preparation sessions.
Attending dermatology conferences and participating in research
are two other ways that the Division allows residents
to become better clinicians. University of Louisville residents
attend meetings across the country, including both the summer
and winter Academy meetings, the Indiana University
Basic Science course, the Winter Skin Seminar, a Caribbean
