Objectives

To provide trainees with the educational and practical experience that will enable them to deliver superior specialized care to patients with diseases of the skin, hair, nails, and mucous membranes and to encourage residents to pursue careers in academic medicine and research. To provide instruction in the pertinent basic sciences and in all clinical areas which bear upon the specialty of dermatology, including research and teaching.

Curriculum

Basic Sciences Related to Dermatology
Including allergy, anatomy, bacteriology, biochemistry, embryology, entomology, genetics, histology, immunology, mycology, oncology, parasitology, pathology, pharmacology, photobiology, physiology, serology, virology. Basic principles of therapy by physical agents. Basic medial sciences and principles that underly dermatologic surgery and therapy by physical agents, with particular emphasis on dermatologic microbiology, dermatopathology, and immuno-dermatology.

Knowledge of, and competence in the performance of procedures in allergy and immunology, cryosurgery, dermatologic surgery, laser surgery, dermatopathology, clinical pathology, parasitology, photobiology, physiotherapy, and topical and systemic pharmacotherapy, and microbiology, including sexually transmitted diseases.

Dermatologic Surgical Training
Including electrosurgery, cryosurgery, laser surgery, nail surgery, biopsy techniques, excisional surgery and appropriate closures, including small flaps and grafts when indicated.

Instruction in dermatologic surgery, electrosurgery, phototherapy, cryosurgery, application of topical medicaments and dressings, physiotherapy, radiotherapy, and appropriate epicutaneous and intradermal testing, photo-testing, and other diagnostic procedures.

Methods for Obtaining Goals and Objectives
Conducted once per week, a two-hour Consult Rounds Teaching Conference involves case presentations and discussions by the dermatology residents. This conference is conducted by faculty and attended by the dermatology residents and students, as well as residents rotating from other training programs.

The Dermatology Conference Schedule
Includes sessions on dermatopathology, dermatologic surgery, reviews of textbooks and journals, mycology and microbiology, basic science of dermatology and clinical dermatology.

Grand Rounds Conference
Consisting of presentation and discussion of actual patients, as well as didactic lectures. This conference is held eight to nine evenings per year, and regularly attracts 30-40 dermatologists from the surrounding communities, as well as the dermatology residents and faculty. Once each year, the Department of Dermatology hosts a Los Angeles Metropolitan Dermatological Society Meeting, at which the residents present and discuss patients for whom they have cared in our clinics.

Teaching Activities

Medical Students and Other Training Programs
The Department is responsible for providing an introduction to dermatology to all USC medical students in their third year. This program consists of 10 lectures and an examination. In addition, over 60 third- and fourth-year students had the opportunity to take a four-week clinical elective in dermatology. An equal number of residents from other training programs, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, and Ob-Gyn residents also take a four-week dermatology elective.

In addition, dermatology is also part of the basic science curriculum. Second-year medical students receive approximately one week of teaching related to the biology and molecular biology of the skin. Gene defects leading to genetic skin diseases and structural defects in human skin are emphasized to give the student a clear idea of the function of the skin’s component parts. The goals of this course are to illustrate the integration and importance of basic sciences with clinical dermatology.

Dermatology faculty also participate in numerous seminars and lectures geared to the training of residents in general internal medicine.