Peds Derm Fellowship

[ssaiyan]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a current MS4 and I've decided to take a year off for a research fellowship post-graduation. I'm interested in peds derm in particular. There are a couple prospective fellowship sites based on some of my connections and I was wondering if I could get comments and advice on these schools for a research year and an LOR from a top dog.

- Boston Children's Hospital or UCSF - a staff offered to help me get a position if i was interested.
- Northwestern with Dr. Paller, who I've actually talked with and we've talked a little but about potential projects.
- Mayo - it's in an absolute crap hole but it's cheap living and I can drive back home to see friends and family frequently
- Home program - newer and growing peds program but I won't have to move and I can continue to get to know my program. However, will I be putting all my eggs in one basket?

thanks!
ps pms also welcomed

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[dermie1985]

1. I'd eliminate Mayo. Not sure why you'd want to go there (for obvious geographic regions) if you have those other options.
2. UCSF/Boston/Northwestern are all top peds derm programs. Amy Paller is the peds derm goddess and I'm sure a great letter from her would carry weight in the admissions process. I'm pretty sure she always has a bunch of fellows working under her and most end up matching. Though, working for her at Northwestern may not really give you any advantage at Northwestern. You should know that beforehand.
3. The same would go for UCSF/Boston Children's...it will be a great experience, but don't expect to be given much preference for matching there if you spend a research year there. They are both big institutions with many research fellows who don't end up matching there. You'll certainly be able to get good rec letters from attendings there as well that might provide weight in the admissions process too. But, again, it may not really give you much of an advantage at either program.
4. Don't know where your home program is, but if you think you'd definitely prefer to stay in that city/location it wouldn't be a bad idea to do your research year at your home program. If you're going to "put all your eggs in one basket"...your home program is the place to do it. It's where your most likely to match anyway. The peds derm world is so small though, that I'm sure a good rec from your home program peds faculty will still grab someone's attention on the interview trail even if it isn't coming from Amy Paller.

 

[PatsyStone]

Hi Everyone,
I'm a current MS4 and I've decided to take a year off for a research fellowship post-graduation. I'm interested in peds derm in particular. There are a couple prospective fellowship sites based on some of my connections and I was wondering if I could get comments and advice on these schools for a research year and an LOR from a top dog.

- Boston Children's Hospital or UCSF - a staff offered to help me get a position if i was interested.
- Northwestern with Dr. Paller, who I've actually talked with and we've talked a little but about potential projects.
- Mayo - it's in an absolute crap hole but it's cheap living and I can drive back home to see friends and family frequently
- Home program - newer and growing peds program but I won't have to move and I can continue to get to know my program. However, will I be putting all my eggs in one basket?

thanks!
ps pms also welcomed

I'm a little bored today, so if none of the above programs work out for you, here is a list of derm departments that have three or more board certified peds derm people. Perhaps one of these larger departments may have unadvertised research spots.

UC San Diego (five faculty)
UCSF (four faculty)

University of Colorado (four faculty)

Emory (three faculty)

Northwestern (six faculty)

Johns Hopkins (three faculty)

Harvard-combined (five faculty)

Mayo (three faculty)
University of Minnesota (three faculty)

Columbia (three faculty)

UNC (three faculty)

Penn (five faculty)

Baylor (three faculty)

University of Washington (three faculty)

Medical College of Wisconsin (five faculty)

 

[ssaiyan]

1. I'd eliminate Mayo. Not sure why you'd want to go there (for obvious geographic regions) if you have those other options.
2. UCSF/Boston/Northwestern are all top peds derm programs. Amy Paller is the peds derm goddess and I'm sure a great letter from her would carry weight in the admissions process. I'm pretty sure she always has a bunch of fellows working under her and most end up matching. Though, working for her at Northwestern may not really give you any advantage at Northwestern. You should know that beforehand.
3. The same would go for UCSF/Boston Children's...it will be a great experience, but don't expect to be given much preference for matching there if you spend a research year there. They are both big institutions with many research fellows who don't end up matching there. You'll certainly be able to get good rec letters from attendings there as well that might provide weight in the admissions process too. But, again, it may not really give you much of an advantage at either program.
4. Don't know where your home program is, but if you think you'd definitely prefer to stay in that city/location it wouldn't be a bad idea to do your research year at your home program. If you're going to "put all your eggs in one basket"...your home program is the place to do it. It's where your most likely to match anyway. The peds derm world is so small though, that I'm sure a good rec from your home program peds faculty will still grab someone's attention on the interview trail even if it isn't coming from Amy Paller.

I have zero hopes that I'll match into UCSF or Boston Children's.... I'm choosing to defer a year for various reasons but I just want to choose a place/experience that will increase my chance of matching somewhere...anywhere really!

I'm a little bored today, so if none of the above programs work out for you, here is a list of derm departments that have three or more board certified peds derm people. Perhaps one of these larger departments may have unadvertised research spots.

UC San Diego (five faculty)
UCSF (four faculty)

University of Colorado (four faculty)

Emory (three faculty)

Northwestern (six faculty)

Johns Hopkins (three faculty)

Harvard-combined (five faculty)

Mayo (three faculty)
University of Minnesota (three faculty)

Columbia (three faculty)

UNC (three faculty)

Penn (five faculty)

Baylor (three faculty)

University of Washington (three faculty)

Medical College of Wisconsin (five faculty)

Thanks for this list! I always forget about the Medical College of Wisconsin even though my experiences with it so far have been great. I didn't realize that their peds derm dept was that big.

 

[dermie1985]

I'm a little bored today, so if none of the above programs work out for you, here is a list of derm departments that have three or more board certified peds derm people. Perhaps one of these larger departments may have unadvertised research spots.

UC San Diego (five faculty)
UCSF (four faculty)

University of Colorado (four faculty)

Emory (three faculty)

Northwestern (six faculty)

Johns Hopkins (three faculty)

Harvard-combined (five faculty)

Mayo (three faculty)
University of Minnesota (three faculty)

Columbia (three faculty)

UNC (three faculty)

Penn (five faculty)

Baylor (three faculty)

University of Washington (three faculty)

Medical College of Wisconsin (five faculty)

Don't forget Stanford. I think they have five or six full-time faculty.

On that list, I remember from the interview trail that University of Colorado and University of Minnesota had surprisingly robust peds derm programs with really nice faculty if you're looking to go "outside" of places like Northwestern/Harvard/UCSF.

 

[Dral]

Mount Sinai has three as well

 

[PatsyStone]

Mount Sinai has three as well

It looks like two (only one who is board-certified in the SPD directory) http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-c...matology/pediatric-and-adolescent-dermatology. Then again, this isn't a perfect science, it was meant to be a quick search. The website and the directory may not be up-to-date http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/dermatology/doctors

Stanford also has three board certified peds derm people (plus one emeritus professor and they also list an attending who appears to no longer be with the university)

 

[Dral]

It looks like two (only one who is board-certified in the SPD directory) http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-c...matology/pediatric-and-adolescent-dermatology. Then again, this isn't a perfect science, it was meant to be a quick search. The website and the directory may not be up-to-date http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/dermatology/doctors

Stanford also has three board certified peds derm people (plus one emeritus professor and they also list an attending who appears to no longer be with the university)

https://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/lauren-e-geller

https://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/susan-v-bershad

http://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/nanette-b-silverberg

With the merger there, everything almost basically doubled.