Dermatopathology

[ChocolateKiss]

Hi,

I'm very interested in dermatopathology because I like both derm and path and want to combine path with also seeing patients. Does anyone know where I can find out more information about careers in this field? Would I do a derm residency followed by the dermatopathology fellowship or a path residency followed by the fellowship?

Do most dermatopathologists act as regular dermatologists for part of the time and then do biopsy interpretation for part of the time?

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[ny skindoc]

Hi,

I'm very interested in dermatopathology because I like both derm and path and want to combine path with also seeing patients. Does anyone know where I can find out more information about careers in this field? Would I do a derm residency followed by the dermatopathology fellowship or a path residency followed by the fellowship?

Do most dermatopathologists act as regular dermatologists for part of the time and then do biopsy interpretation for part of the time?

You can do the fellowship either way.If you enter dermpath from pathology residency you will do dermpath and not typically treat dermatology patients.For those that enter it from a derm residency some do only dermpath but many integrate both clinical derm practice with pathology.

 

[akaz]

Chocolate kiss


where are you in school? I have friends that have approached it from both dircetions. They are attendings if you want to ask them any ?.

 

[ChocolateKiss]

Chocolate kiss


where are you in school? I have friends that have approached it from both dircetions. They are attendings if you want to ask them any ?.

I'm actually just beginning my first year at U Penn Med. I know it's early to be picking a specialty already, but I know if I want to go the derm route, I should start with the derm research very early on in med school. I'd love to ask the attendings a few questions if they'd be willing to answer...

 

[akaz]

I'm actually just beginning my first year at U Penn Med. I know it's early to be picking a specialty already, but I know if I want to go the derm route, I should start with the derm research very early on in med school. I'd love to ask the attendings a few questions if they'd be willing to answer...

I will see what she says. She is at the Brigham. I am going to Cornell. I liked Penn. I have a bunch of derm publications because in grad school, I just happened to be in a skin lab. I liked the Brigham derm folks alot. There was no hierarchy and the attendings and profs gave people alot of time Seriously. I am not interested in derm. I am interested in the path route. I will PM you this.

 

[akaz]

I will see what she says. She is at the Brigham. I am going to Cornell. I liked Penn. I have a bunch of derm publications because in grad school, I just happened to be in a skin lab. I liked the Brigham derm folks alot. There was no hierarchy and the attendings and profs gave people alot of time Seriously. I am not interested in derm. I am interested in the path route. I will PM you this.

PM me, your box is full

 

[porokeratosis]

I'm actually just beginning my first year at U Penn Med. I know it's early to be picking a specialty already, but I know if I want to go the derm route, I should start with the derm research very early on in med school. I'd love to ask the attendings a few questions if they'd be willing to answer...

You have excellent resources at Penn. The Derm faculty are great. Penn has a strong reputation in the field of Derm (definitely a top 10 program in the USA). It also has world-renowned Dr. Kligman.

If you want to get into the field of Dermatopathology, I recommend getting involved with either the Derm faculty, Pathology faculty, or both. State your interest early and try to get onto a summer research project in Dermpath between your 1st and 2nd year of med school. Try to publish too. Definitely make your connections now.

Good luck

 

[swampthing]

I'm starting a military Derm residency this summer 2006 and I met some of the well-known Penn faculty. A few are ex-military dermatologists and and still have strong connections with my Derm program (they occassionally come down to teach us). Ex-military and Penn dermatologists I met are Dr. William James and Dr. Bernett Johnson. Both are very approachable and helpful. In fact, Dr. James is the Derm program director at Penn.

I agree, approach the Derm Dept, Path Dept, or both early in your med school career. Preferably someone certified in Dermatopathology. It's never too early to make connections.

 

[ChocolateKiss]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. It is much appreciated.

 

[mantooth]

What are some of the best dermpath fellowships?

 

[USMELL]

What are some of the best dermpath fellowships?

ditto

 

[yaah]

Depends what your goal is. If you want to be a leader in the field, UCSF is at the top along with Arkansas, Harvard combined program. But there are lots of programs with very well known faculty - simply pick up any textbook of dermpath and see who the authors are and where they are at. Some programs favor derm applicants, some favor path applicants, some like both, sometimes it changes year to year. Often the easiest way to tell is to see whether the fellowship is headquartered in the derm department or in the path department. But most dermpath fellowships are actually pretty good. The most high yield place for applicants are probably Ackerman or dermpath diagnostics affiliated programs, as they take lots of applicants and are not as academically oriented. A lot of academics don't have tons of respect for them (although many do), however, so if you want to be an academician bear that in mind.

 

[USMELL]

Depends what your goal is. If you want to be a leader in the field, UCSF is at the top along with Arkansas, Harvard combined program. But there are lots of programs with very well known faculty - simply pick up any textbook of dermpath and see who the authors are and where they are at. Some programs favor derm applicants, some favor path applicants, some like both, sometimes it changes year to year. Often the easiest way to tell is to see whether the fellowship is headquartered in the derm department or in the path department. But most dermpath fellowships are actually pretty good. The most high yield place for applicants are probably Ackerman or dermpath diagnostics affiliated programs, as they take lots of applicants and are not as academically oriented. A lot of academics don't have tons of respect for them (although many do), however, so if you want to be an academician bear that in mind.

thanks, are you considering dermpath also?

 

[yaah]

No, but I know things about it.

 

[coco09]

are dermatopath fellowships very competitive? I'm tired of buffing up my CV. I want to stop after residency match. I don't think I could do more research, etc for fellowship apps.

 

[yaah]

Then you will probably not be very successful at getting a dermpath spot. Most successful applicants either have a PhD or have multiple abstracts and publications during their residency. It also helps to know the right people. Some people get fellowships and all they did during residency was start a project, but that's pretty rare unless you have something else going for you (like a PhD or your uncle is the fellowship director).

 

[Anfield rd]

Then you will probably not be very successful at getting a dermpath spot. Most successful applicants either have a PhD or have multiple abstracts and publications during their residency. It also helps to know the right people. Some people get fellowships and all they did during residency was start a project, but that's pretty rare unless you have something else going for you (like a PhD or your uncle is the fellowship director).

I agree the above statement 100%. The only thing I'd add is 'some people are simply in bed with LadyLuck'.

 

[nilusays]

hi everyone! i was wondering if i could have some more information on dermopath, as it compares to immunoderm. could anyone go over the pros and cons of each, or for those of you who picked dermopath, why did you do it?

(about me: i'm starting first year at case SOM this year, so i have a long way to go, but i'd like to get going on research etc. early. i have prior immunology research, though it had nothing to do with dermatology, and i enjoyed it, which is why i think i'd like immunoderm. however, i think working with melanoma/skin cancer would be personally rewarding, as i have a brother who had that.)

 

[skinknee]

Yaah,

I'm a 3rd year med student and interested in dermpath. I've taken time off to do derm research and hopefully should submit papers (~3-4 basic science publications) by winter of this year. I've had the hardest time figuring out which path programs I should be targeting. Any suggestions?

I assume I should ONLY look for pathology residencies that offer dermpath fellowships. But I have no idea. Love to hear your insight. Thanks.

 

[Long Dong]

hi everyone! i was wondering if i could have some more information on dermopath, as it compares to immunoderm. could anyone go over the pros and cons of each, or for those of you who picked dermopath, why did you do it?

I don't know much about dermpath or immunoderm, but I am considering dermpath myself. As for immunoderm I think this is a new field and only a few places offer it as a fellowship, like Mayo MN. It is my understanding immunoderm, like pediatric derm, is not an ACGME accredited fellowship like dermpath and procedural derm is.

Yaah,

I'm a 3rd year med student and interested in dermpath. I've taken time off to do derm research and hopefully should submit papers (~3-4 basic science publications) by winter of this year. I've had the hardest time figuring out which path programs I should be targeting. Any suggestions?

I assume I should ONLY look for pathology residencies that offer dermpath fellowships. But I have no idea. Love to hear your insight. Thanks.

Again I don't know much about dermpath, but the little that I've heard/been told is you'd want to target path programs with dermpath offered as a fellowship. I've heard if the dermpath is housed in the path department they are more likely to take path residents, and if housed in the derm department more likely to take a derm res. But I've also heard it is easier for a derm resident to get into dermpath then a path resident. Some places when I went to interview for derm residency even went so far to almost say if you want the dermpath fellowship it'd be open to you as a derm resident. So maybe going derm then dermpath might be a better shot since only a few derms actually go into dermpath, were as from the path side it seems like alot more of them want to go into dermpath. This might all change since the mohs recently got slashed for reimbursement, and historically mohs has been the highly sought after fellowship by derms. Again this is all rumors and speculation on my part, cuz again I don't know jack.

 

[yaah]

You're pretty much right. I think one has to be careful about making general trends like "dermpath programs run in path departments always take path residents," because it isn't true. There is a rough trend though. There are also many programs where there is a lot of interaction and overlap between the two departments.

But what is definitely true is that you will have a better shot at a dermpath fellowship if you are an internal candidate (that is, you did your residency at the place with the fellowship). That is because they know you, know your interest, etc. That also means the program has enough dermpath faculty and can potentially result in research projects or publications, which are helpful to your application. There probably are programs though that only take dermatology trained people or only take pathology trained people.

But yes, if you really want to do dermpath, you would be advised to go to a place with a dermpath fellowship (or at least try to do outside electives at places with dermpath fellowships), and express your interest early on.

 

[skinknee]

Unfortunately, I doubt I'd have a chance at derm so I've considered going for a strong Path program. Although I don't know how competitive it is to get into top Path programs ie. Penn, Harvard, UCSF, etc...

I've heard Columbia and Cornell have great programs, but they don't have dermpath, unfortunately.

 

[yaah]

Top path programs can be tough to get into - usually they want people who have demonstrated interest in pathology or an otherwise excellent application. It's not just about board scores.

I don't know what happened to Cornell's dermpath program. Maybe it's just in limbo temporarily.

 

[valgarizm]

Top path programs can be tough to get into - usually they want people who have demonstrated interest in pathology or an otherwise excellent application. It's not just about board scores.

I don't know what happened to Cornell's dermpath program. Maybe it's just in limbo temporarily.

Cornell's program was always combined with Memorial Sloan-Kettering, but was under the administration of Cornell. Now it is under the administration of MSKCC, but is still combined with Cornell. Its still the same program. I guess before your diploma would have been Cornell/MSKCC, and now it is MSKCC/Cornell. Whatever. Inflammatory is at Cornell with Cynthia Magro and neoplastic at MSKCC with Klaus Busam and Scott McNutt.

Columbia doesn't have a dermpath fellowship for some reason.

I think most programs have two positions and they tend to take 1 derm and 1 path person. It's just that there are a lot more path people out there applying.

 

[MOHS_01]

If you want to see derm patients, then definitely do dermatology first. If you want to work in/for a dermatology practice, then someone with derm-dermpath will always have an advantage over a path-dermpath. Path-dermpath is probably an easier road from a purely matching standpoint, but your potential job opportunities could be a little more limited when compared to the derm-dermpath route. Either way you should end up with a good job.