Medical Education

Our department provides personalized advising and opportunities to participate in research for Keck School medical students Years I-IV. We have had students in all four years engage in research with the epidemiology and basic science teams. Meagan Hughes, MD directs the medical student program.

We deliver a weeklong introductory course for the Year I medical students. We strive to provide a strong basic science curriculum along with a foundation of clinical knowledge. We have actively participated in Year I-II curriculum meetings and hope to help to develop the new curriculum and to help to pioneer new teaching techniques that are engaging and useful to our students. Hughes and Haden direct this course.

For Years III-IV, we participate in hands-on intercession sessions and in career mentoring. For our fourth year students we provide an educational and highly interactive four-week clerkship. We spend significant face-to-face time in mentorship and advising as students apply for Dermatology residencies. We help with personal statements, mock interviews, coordinate strategic “away rotations” and help students to publish using available data. Applying to dermatology is an active process and requires close involvement and mentoring from the faculty. David Sawcer, MD, PhD, directs this course.

Our department utilizes the AAMC Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS) to receive visiting MD and DO student applications.

For more information on VSAS, please visit: www.aamc.org/vsas or contact vsas@aamc.org.