Graduate Medical Education

Didactic Schedule

Group of Doctors talking

Didactic sessions are a core element of the residency training program. Didactic sessions include the following educational opportunities:

  • Clinical Dermatology & Basic Science Lectures: Formal lectures on clinical dermatology and basic science will complement the clinical learning and will supplement the weekly textbook review. Regularly scheduled faculty and resident lectures will provide further clinical pearls and management considerations.
  • Clinical and Dermatopathological "Unknown” Sessions: These sessions will emphasize morphology and differential diagnosis. These sessions are not intended to be intimidating, but residents report that these “on the spot” sessions with clinical photographs are among the best learning tools available, allowing faculty to assess resident morphology skills and allowing individual trainees to assess their own skills in relation to their peers.
  • Textbook Review: A formal, weekly text review of Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin and/or Bolognia’s Dermatology will ensure that both texts will be read in their entirety over a 1-year and 2-year period, respectively. Typically, the first year residents read Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin in order to gain a broad clinical exposure quickly. The second and third year residents continue to expound their fund of knowledge by reading Bolognia’s Dermatology, supplementing with selected peer-reviewed journals and other sources of primary medical information.
  • Basic Science and In-Service Review: A formal 6-week “basic science review,” held each Spring, helps provide a deep dive into the basic science and pathophysiology of dermatologic conditions and prepares residents, specifically, for the in-service exam. Topics given special emphasis within our formal Didactics curriculum will include the following: Anatomy, bacteriology, cosmetics, dermatopathology (including interpretation of direct immunofluorescence specimens), embryology, entomology, ethics, genetics and genodermatoses, histology, immunology, mycology, oncology, parasitology, pediatric dermatology, pharmacology, photobiology, physiology, procedural dermatology, professionalism, serology, surgical dermatology, venerology, virology, therapy by physical agents, and the interplay of dermatology with other specialties such as Allergy, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine, Psychiatry, Radiology, and Surgery.