Welcome From Chair

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the UMass Chan Dermatology Residency Program. I’m thrilled that you have considered training in our residency program, which occupies an important and central position within our dynamic academic department. As newly appointed chair of the Department of Dermatology at UMass Chan, I am working to expand and build upon our already fun and highly accomplished group.

We are proud of our long-standing training program at UMass Chan with our clinical partner, UMass Memorial Medical Center, as well as our residents, who have become caring and expert dermatologists, including many who are now leaders in our specialty. We are known for our camaraderie and small, family feel. We thoroughly enjoy teaching, as well as learning from, the many wonderful residents who have trained in our program. As our future colleagues, we seek to build your clinical knowledge, surgical skills, patient experiences and collaborative approach to patient care, all while getting to know you as a person and key contributor to our team and our patients. In our program, we will provide you with new and exciting opportunities to expand and deepen your understanding of clinical dermatology and preparation for licensing exams, as well as connecting with basic, translational and clinical researchers to consider new project ideas.

We are proud of our numerous continuity clinics for residents. Patients  experience longitudinal follow-up care with residents, so that both top-level patient outcomes as well as resident training are prioritized. We have strong pediatric, surgical and pathology training, with fellowship opportunities in all three subspecialties. We offer a diverse range of clinical experiences in our outpatient clinics, including both common conditions, as well as uncommon and rare presentations through our many specialty clinics, which include epidermolysis bullosa, connective tissue diseases, Down syndrome, and hair and vitiligo clinics. Protected time is provided to see inpatient consults and coordinate care with our colleagues in other departments.

A satisfying work-life integration is important to me, our faculty and our residents; so we have developed our program to encourage and support this balance. We offer dedicated academic time every week so that residents can collect their thoughts, further investigate interesting cases they have observed, write up reports to publish, or consider initiating a research project. Our clinical research team is happy to support you in studies you would like to initiate, including consultations for designing studies, IRB preparation and recruitment of subjects. Accomplished scientists are available for supporting new ideas for extended research projects as well. Finally, our residents work as a team, supporting each other through thick and thin when unexpected circumstances arise.

We all appreciate your interest in our department and look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,
John Harris, MD, PhD