Dermatology Residency Training Program
Program Details:
Welcome to Boston University Dermatology. Our home institution, Boston Medical Center, is the safety-net hospital of Boston. Here we care for a diverse and largely underserved patient population. Our program includes 15 residents, 5 in each year of training. Our residents have robust clinical exposure to many areas of dermatology including complex medical dermatology, rheumatology-dermatology, cutaneous oncology, pediatric dermatology, procedural dermatology, and dermatopathology. Our program practices holistic review without board cut-off scores. We encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds including any racial, ethnic, age, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status to apply.
More information about our program is detailed below.
Program Director: Lisa Shen, MD
Hospital Affiliation: Boston Medical Center
Program Contact:
Katie Galek
Training Programs Manager
Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine
609 Albany Street Boston, MA 02118
Email: dermtrng@bu.edu
Telephone: (617)-358-9728
Fax: (617) 358-9709
Introduction:
The mission of the Department of Dermatology at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University is to be an academic leader in teaching, research, and patient care. A major goal is to develop and train academic dermatologists to best support their careers, our specialty, and the communities we serve. In order to advance these goals and achieve them more effectively, our dermatology residency includes career-development opportunities such as a dedicated lecture series focused on academic skill-building (publishing, Internal Review Board and grant writing, statistics, niche development, giving talks, etc), research time in the third year, as well as sponsorship to conferences and committees to prepare residents for academic faculty appointments. A formal mentorship program is in place to help residents explore and develop their careers. This new paradigm aims to develop well-rounded dermatologists, with careers focused on teaching, patient care, and research, who will become leaders in academia, and make significant contributions to our specialty.
Training Sites:
Our trainees are exposed to general and specialty Medical Dermatology, Pediatric Dermatology, Procedural Dermatology and Dermatopathology via a patient base comprised of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and dermatologic disease burden. The diversity of our patient population is one of our greatest strengths and allows for a training experience enriched by patients with a variety of skin conditions as well as a robust education in the social determinants of health. Approximately 20 full-time faculty members will provide expert instruction in sub-specialty and focus areas within Dermatology. Clinical sites include Boston Medical Center (BMC: 496 beds), two Boston Veterans Administration Healthcare Hospitals (435 beds and numerous outpatients visits), and outstanding off-campus community based practices in the Boston area. There are over 70,000 outpatient visits to our dermatology clinics annually. Boston Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospitals also sustain active inpatient consultation services. We maintain strong interactions with Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, among other departments. Our department is home to many dermatology subspecialty clinics including rheumatology-dermatology, wound healing, hair, gynecology-dermatology, complex medical dermatology, and cutaneous oncology, among others.
Didactics:
Training is provided through daily supervised clinical experiences, monthly clinical Grand Rounds, as well as a structured core curriculum supplemented with Dermatopathology Microscope Sessions, Journal Club, Morbidity and Mortality discussions, Academic Skills Sessions, along with clinical and scientific conferences with other regional residency programs. Faculty from outside departments (such as Podiatry, Gastroenterology, Plastic Surgery, Otolaryngology and others) at Boston Medical Center are invited to lecture on dermatology-relevant topics. We enhance our training with didactic sessions focused on preparing residents for American Board of Dermatology certification as well as the care of complex patients. Our didactic series on Skills for the Future Academician includes practical statistics, writing a review article, Internal Review Board ins and outs, presentation best practices, finding your career niche, maintaining clinical and research professionalism, grant writing, billing and coding, branding and social media, and approaches to interactive teaching. We began a dedicated wellness curriculum in 2019 that focuses on professional identity formation, resilience, work/life balance, and communication skills. In 2020, we initiated a formal professionalism curriculum that includes an introduction to professionalism and self-awareness, a talk on microaggressions, and a workshop on giving effective feedback, among other sessions.
Mentorship:
Incoming residents will be assigned a provisional faculty mentor who will help guide them through their transition to residency. Meetings with one’s mentor will occur at least twice a year. Residents have the option to change mentors as they enter their second year. This primary mentor will serve as a touchpoint and resource as a resident’s interests evolve. They will help facilitate connections for their mentees within and outside of Boston Medical Center.
Research:
Our Department fosters inquiry and scholarly activities, including a large portfolio of clinical and laboratory-based research. We strive to maintain the highest ethical standards and professionalism in the service of advancing human health.
Resident Accomplishments:
Residents in our program have undertaken dozens of research and quality improvement projects and written many scientific manuscripts. They have authored book chapters and presented posters on their work. Our residents have been the recipients of American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) travel grants to work in underserved areas in the United States and Africa as well as grants to attend international conferences. BU residents have won awards to travel as part of dermMentors Resident of Distinction competition, given oral presentations at the AAD annual meeting, and won preceptorship grants from the New England Dermatologic Society, among other accolades. They have served on committees nationally (AAD, Women’s Dermatologic Society), regionally (Massachusetts Medical Society), and locally (BMC Social Determinants of Health Working Group, BMC Center for Health Equity).
Application Cycle 2023-2024:
We are looking for excited applicants who are dedicated to academia. Our ideal candidate is an intellectually curious lifelong learner who is a compassionate and dedicated physician and who will make substantial future contributions to the field of Dermatology. An ACGME-approved clinical internship is required prior to dermatology training. We practice holistic application review. Our focus is primarily on candidates with an interest in academic practice, who exhibit compassionate patient care, and have an interest in caring for those from diverse backgrounds including race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
The Program uses the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) to process applications. The new application season for a residency position in July of 2025 will commence in September 2023. This year, there are five positions available through the match for the Boston University School of Medicine Dermatology Training Program. Our program will be accepting the standard ERAS supplemental application. In addition, we strongly encourage interested applicants to complete our own supplemental application (see link at bottom of page). Our BU supplemental application deadline is October 11th, 2023 5:00 PM EST.
Our interviews will be fully virtual and will take place on January 10 (morning), and January 12 (all day), 2024. USMLE Step 2 scores are now required for all applicants. Applicants with previous residency training in other specialties will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Please see our Virtual Open House flyer for 2023 below and register via zoom!
Boston University Dermatology Virtual Open House 2023
Opportunities for Visiting Medical Students
Residency Program Welcome Video 2021:
Application Supplement:
An updated supplement for the 2023-2024 application cycle is posted here.