Courses and Didactics

During the 3 years, residents will have courses in:

  • Dermatoethics, Dermoscopy, and Reflectance Confocal Microscopy*
  • Dermatologic surgery and cosmetics
  • Dermatopathology
  • Pediatric Dermatology
  • Book review lectures covering general dermatology and pharmacology

*The Dermatology Department at UConn has their own extensive curriculum for Dermatoethics, Dermoscopy, Reflectance Confocal Microscopy (RCM), and dermatopathology.

Dermatoethics is covered over three years and includes 8 hours per year of discussion and lecture. In this course we cover the ethical issues at play in medical education, professionalism, sensitively dealing with multiple cultures of colleagues and patients as well as varied sexual orientations, the business of the practice of medicine, research, publishing and clinical issues which include medical errors, teledermatology, pediatric and geriatric dermatology, dermatopathology, cosmetic dermatology, dermatologic surgery, use of clinical photography, use of physician extenders, drug sampling, dealing with Pharma, office dispensing, and ethical use of social media. We also touch upon the ethical traps involved in treating family members, burn out, mentorship, and curbside consults.

Dermoscopy is covered during a series of approximately 16-17 hours of lectures and then reviewed with unknown cases over the course of the entire year. The dermosocopy course is repeated annually and is followed by a course on reflectance confocal microscopy which combines the use of dermoscopy and skin pathology. RCM is covered in a series of approximately 8 hours of lectures and then reviewed with unknowns that include clinical images, dermoscopy images, RCM mosaics and when available dermatopathology images.

At the end of three years you will have completed the curriculum in dermoscopy and RCM three times so that all graduating residents will feel comfortable and have an expertise in these very important tools. The complete course in dermatoethics is over three years so that every resident is exposed to the complete curriculum and feels prepared to deal with the many ethical issues that they are bound to face in the practice of dermatology after graduation.

The dermatologic surgery and cosmetics lecture series is provided by our dermatologic surgeons. This consists of 20 hours of lectures occurring biweekly throughout the year spanning boards-relevant topics as well as practical clinical knowledge.

Our curriculum in dermatopathology is unique and occurs Tuesday afternoons. It consists of two components: weekly structured curriculum and weekly unknowns. The weekly structured curriculum consists of a dermatopathology topic that is thoroughly reviewed with the residents by one of the dermatopathology attendings. During the same afternoon, weekly unknowns are reviewed by a dermatopathology attending.

The pediatric dermatology curriculum consists of monthly lectures by a pediatric dermatologist. Book review, which is led by the residents, occurs on a weekly basis on Monday afternoons and covers general dermatology topics based on Bolognia’s Dermatology textbook. General dermatology topics are supplemented by faculty lectures. The pharmacology curriculum is resident-led and follows Wolverton’s Comprehensive Dermatologic Drug Therapy book.

In addition to the courses above, residents participate in the following didactic conferences during residency:

  • Grand Rounds (monthly)
  • Journal Club (monthly)
  • Kodachrome Sessions (~2 times monthly)