EDUCATION

Fulfilling our specialty's obligation to serve the long-term interests of patients with skin disease, the Department of Dermatology provides many educational programs.
Dermatology Electives: The department offers introductory electives in dermatology to 1st year medical students, then provides an intensive dermatology course to the 2nd year class. Clinical electives are available to 3rd and 4th year medical students, and research electives are available to all students. Several programs include: under-graduate preceptorships, medical student teaching, the dermatology residency and physician-investigator program, post-doctoral research training, dermatology rotations, and lectures for primary care physicians and other specialties involved in the treatment of skin disease, and continuing medical education for certified physicians who have completed training.

MEDICAL STUDENTS

The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine offers clinical electives for its students at both University Hospitals Case Medical Center (UHCMC) and at MetroHealth Medical Center. These electives are usually fully subscribed by our own students. If they are not filled, students from other universities may apply. Listed below are the electives currently offered by the Department of Dermatology.

http://casemed.case.edu/registrar/applications/

Derm0101

Code: Derm 0101

Title: Dermatology at University Hospitals and VAMC

Sponsor: Neil Korman, M.D., Ph.D.

Available to: Year 3 & 4, Type B & C

Course Length: 1 month offered year round

Max: 3 Students , Min :1 Student

Derm0103

Code: Derm 0103

Title: Dermatology at University Hospitals

Sponsor:

Available to: Year 4, Type B & C

Course Length: 1 month offered year round

Max: 3 Students , Min :1 Student

Description:
Teaching is based on the patient material available in both the inpatient and outpatient services at University Hospital Case Medical Center and the Cleveland Veteran's Affairs Medical Center. Participation in twice weekly didactic sessions, Journal Clubs, basic science and clinical conferences, and citywide grand rounds is expected. Students on the Hospital Dermatology elective can exchange clinical sessions with those taking outpatient dermatology electives.

Objective:
To enable students to accurately describe cutaneous lesions. To enable students to identify and diagnose common dermatologic disorders as seen in the hospital setting. To enable students to perform common laboratory procedures (e.g., KOH, Tzanck). To enable students to initiate therapy for common dermatologic disorders and know when referral is appropriate. To provide student with insight into complex dermatologic patients and their inpatient management.

Duties:
Students will be supervised by a resident and/or faculty of the Department of Dermatology. After initial orientation, student will be able to perform initial evaluation and present to supervising physician. No night or weekend call is required. Students will be evaluated on their ability to discuss pathomechanisms and describe dermatologic patients, diagnostic and therapeutic skills, and on their participation in required activities.
Derm0104

Code: Derm 0104

Title: Intro to Medical Mycology

Sponsor: Mahmoud Ghannoum, Ph.D., EMBA

Available to: Year 3 & 4, Type B & C

Course Length: 1 month

Max: 5 Students , Min :1 Student

Description:
As a result of profound changes, the field of medical mycology is passing through a very exciting and challenging period. This period is characterized by an alarming increase in the incidence of invasive and mucocutaneous fugal infections. The development of resistance to antimycotics, especially azole-resistance, is becoming recognized as a growing problem. Fortunately, this period is also characterized by the introduction of a plethora of new antimycotic agents, including fluconazole, itraconazole, terbinafine, and various liposomal preparations of polygenes (amphotericine B and Nystatin). This course will cover these areas and introduce the students to the state-of-the-art development in the field of mycology. Clinical exposure to patients, private as well as clinical study patients, will be included in this course. Hands on experience in clinical, laboratory, and basic mycology will be reviewed.

Objective:
To familiarize students with the emergence of fungal infections in the era of immunocompromised patients and modern therapeutic modalities.

Duties:
Students will be supervised by faculty of the Center for Medical Mycology. No night or weekend call is required.

Derm0105

Code: Derm 0105

Title: Dermatopathology

Sponsor: Kord Honda, M.D.

Available to: Year 3 & 4, Type B & C

Course Length: 1 month

Max: 1 Students , Min :1 Student

Description:
The main objective of the elective is to expose the students to the variety of skin lesions that are evaluated by histology in dermatopathology (nevi, melanoma, cutaneous carcinomas, psoriasis, lupus erythematous, drug eruptions, infections by bacteria, viruses, and mycobacterial, among other). This is accomplished at regular daily sign-out at the microscope, where slides are reviewed together and clinical correlations discussed for interesting cases. By the end of the elective period, students are typically proficient in the histological diagnosis of common skin lesions, such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, actinic keratosis, cysts and melanocytic nevi, and know the clinical appearance of these lesions.

Duties:
The students will participate in daily signout and give a brief (5-10 minute) oral presentation to the attending faculty members and rotating residents on one interesting case from the biopsies reviewed during the elective.

Derm0201

Code: Derm 0201

Title: Clinical Dermatology MHMC

Sponsor:

Dermatology at MetroHealth Medical Center

Available to: Year 3 & 4, Type B & C

Course Length: 1 month

Max: 1 Students , Min :1 Student

Description:
Teaching is based on the patient material available in both the inpatient and outpatient consultation services at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, including the inpatient consultation services. Participation in the thrice-weekly didactic sessions is expected: journal clubs, basic science and clinical conferences, and citywide grand rounds. For students that have a particular interest in dermatopathology, additional experience in histopathology is available. Students on the UH/VAMC and on the MetroHealth electives attend the same didactic conferences and can exchange clinic sessions with each other as staffing permits. The student will be evaluated on the basis of his/her acquisition of basic dermatologic descriptive and diagnostic skills and his/her participation in other clinical and education sessions each day. Interested students may visit the website: http//:derm.metrohealth.org/rotator.asp to obtain information on rotations and conferences.

Objective:
To be able to describe, recognize, and treat the common dermatologic problems of adults and children.

Duties:
Students are supervised by residents and/or faculty. Once adequate faculty with dermatologic history and physical examination is acquired, students may do their own preliminary evaluations, and present the cases to a supervising resident, who will assume continuity for the patient. No weekend or night call is expected.

If you would like to register for any of the above electives, arrangements can be made with Registrar's Office at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Registrar's Office
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
10900 Euclid Avenue, Room T-408
Cleveland, OH 44106-4920
Phone: 216- 368-3723
Fax: 216-368-4621

Kristina Myers
Phone: 216-844-5794
Fax: 216-844-8993

Email: kristina.myers@UHhospitals.org

Mentorship Oppportunities: The department faculty offer a spectrum of career mentorship opportunities, including basic science, clinical specialties, and clinic research opportunities. All house officers are encouraged to develop an area of special interest in a clinical area in basic science or in clinical research during their training, and to exploit the depth of expertise of our faculty through one-on-one interactions on projects, activities, or publications.

Training Programs for Academic Careers: The department has an NIH-funded training program in investigative and molecular dermatology. The major objective of this program is to provide developing PhD and MD investigators with opportunities for state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research training in investigative dermatology and cutaneous biology. Resident MD physicians can enter a special (extended) residency track in which they pursue both dermatology residency and cutaneous biology research training; in special circumstances, this program can be arranged such that the trainee matriculates for the PhD or the MPH degree in the course of this combined training period. Another training opportunity is in Translational Oncology. This NIH-awarded training grant has four components; one of which is cutaneous oncology. Residents in the four-year track, or junior faculty who have just completed residency can become a post-doctoral fellow in this program. Training can include basic science with clinical applications, clinical trials, epidemiology or cancer outcomes, cancer diagnostics or therapeutic development.