Our residents receive protected time twice per week (Tuesday and Thursday afternoon) to focus on didactics. They are free of clinic responsibilities during these times. Didactics are both faculty and resident led and provide a comprehensive training in dermatology. Below is a snapchat of some of our education:

• Faculty-led review dermatology
• Weekly dermatopathology at our multi-headed microscopes
• Weekly Kodachromes
• Board review questions
• Pharmacist led pharmacology curriculum
• Annual Surgical Cadaver Course
• Monthly Journal Club
• Monthly Clinical Pathological Correlations
• Monthly Inpatient Consult Review

Our departmental stipends help cover costs associated with in-service and board prep materials, and we are proud of our 100% pass rates for core and board examinations.

The University of Kansas is proud to offer our residents extensive training in procedural dermatology. With two board-certified fellowship trained Mohs surgeons on faculty, we treat all kinds of common and rare tumors, including Melanoma using immunohistochemistry. The rural catchment area of our hospital ensures that our residents are exposed to the most complex tumors and reconstructions, and we repair nearly all our defects in-house.

Our goal is to ensure our trainees are comfortable with the procedural aspects of dermatology, regardless of what career they ultimately pursue. Each year residents participate in a multi-session cadaver course led by our Mohs faculty to learn the basics of biopsies, simple excisions, Mohs, and complex repairs (including grafts and flaps). Our Mohs exposure is hands on, and residents are provided a great deal of autonomy in taking Mohs layers and completing reconstructions. The surgical volume at KU exceeds most programs, and our residents generally meet graduation procedural requirements by the completion of their first year.

Our cosmetic exposure is similarly robust. Several faculty members are trained in cosmetics and residents are provided many opportunities to learn Botox, filler, and laser treatments. Residents are also exposed to lasers while at Children’s Mercy Hospital, where they help treat our children with vascular malformations.

Children’s Mercy Hospital is one of the largest pediatric dermatology departments in the nation. We have 5 fellowship-trained pediatric dermatologists, all of whom are also board certified in pediatrics. This level of expertise has made Children’s Mercy a highly sought-after setting for those aspiring for a career in pediatric dermatology, and we offer a fellowship for those seeking additional training after completion of dermatology residency.

As part of their training, residents are exposed to several multi-disciplinary specialty clinics including:

• Vascular clinic
• Genetic clinic
• Melanoma clinic
• Neurofibromatosis clinic
• Tuberous Sclerosis clinic
• Laser clinic

In each of these settings, residents work alongside specialists to help care for some of our most complex patients. Residents are also exposed to inpatient consults during their pediatric months, and our catchment area allows for significant exposure to rare and complex pathology.

The University of Kansas has 2 dermatopathologists on faculty, and our residents receive extensive training in one of the most challenging aspects of dermatology. As part of their didactic curriculum, residents receive weekly faculty led sessions on our multi-headed scope which covers the Elston dermatopathology book.

During inpatient consult months (1 month during both second and third year), residents are free of clinic responsibilities and spend their mornings reading pathology in a 1 on 1 setting with our dermatopathologists. This also provides the opportunity to learn more about the lab, and residents gain exposure to immunohistochemistry, microbiology, and virtually all aspects of pathology to help them better understand how samples are processed.

Afternoons during consult months are spent helping manage our inpatient consult service. The University of Kansas is one of the region’s largest transplant centers, and we also have a brand-new cancer center where patients have access to a wide range of clinical trials. As a result, our residents are exposed to extensive hospital-based dermatology and learn to work in a multidisciplinary setting to treat the most acute and complex patients. 

Residents are supported in research endeavors throughout their training. The University of Kansas has numerous funding opportunities that can be accessed by residents wishing to pursue larger initiatives, and we work closely with our statisticians on both clinical and translational projects. Our recent graduates have published in nearly all major dermatology journals and have received several national and international grants and awards for their work.

We recognize that a major part of resident education is the ability to attend conferences. Apart from 1 first year, all residents attend the AAD in its entirety each year. In addition, residents are provided with 5 additional days per year to attend conferences that they are presenting at. In recent years, some of these conferences have included:

• American Society of Dermatologic Surgery
• American College of Mohs Surgery
• Society for Investigative Dermatology
• Medical Dermatology Society
• Society for Pediatric Dermatology
• Orlando Dermatology and Aesthetic Conference
• Cosmetic Surgery Forum
• Fall Clinical
• American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery

Our residents are diverse, and their career goals often differ. The University of Kansas has trained residents who have entered every subspecialty of dermatology, as well as in academic and private settings. Our goal is to make sure that each resident is best prepared for their next step.

As part of our mentorship program, each resident is paired with a faculty member who shares similar career interests. These mentors meet at least quarterly and help provide a framework for our residents to maximize their time at the University of Kansas. In addition, each resident meets twice per year with our program director to ensure that they have a platform to discuss their experiences and provide feedback to help guide our continued departmental growth.   

Training in Kansas City offers a unique opportunity to experience both urban and rural medicine. Kansas City is a thriving metropolitan area of over 2 million people, but the state of Kansas has some of the most underserved rural areas in the country. This disparity allows trainees to see the full spectrum of dermatologic diseases, but it also provides an avenue for us to give back.

Our KC Care clinic provides a chance for residents and students to help provide free or reduced cost care for our underserved urban patients on weekends. In addition, KU residents work with our cancer center to provide free skin cancer screenings throughout the state of Kansas. This opportunity allows us to visit rural areas who otherwise would not have access to dermatologists.

Beyond these efforts, there are numerous additional avenues for residents to get involved with the community at screening and fund-raising events throughout the year.