The MedStar Health―Washington Hospital Center Residency Program in Internal Medicine and Dermatology
The Dermatology and Internal Medicine Residency program prepares physicians for the complex and challenging demands of dermatology practice.
The comprehensive program is located at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center, with rotations at other leading dermatology clinics and clinical settings in the Washington, D.C., region.
Video tour of graduate medical education at MedStar Health
Learn more about graduate medical education at MedStar Health with a video tour, hosted by Sailaja Pindiprolu, MD, internal medicine residency program director.
Why train here
The residency program combines a broad clinical curriculum, an extensive didactic curriculum, and research involvement for a comprehensive training experience.
Residents gain experience in highly advanced diagnostic and treatment modalities across a high volume of inpatient and outpatient cases with broad pathology diversity. Training sites include MedStar Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Dermatology, Children’s National Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and others.
Our residents enjoy life in a vibrant city. Washington, D.C., is home to some of the nation’s most cherished cultural and historical sites, museums, national parks, sporting events, and a rich selection of restaurants and nightlife.
Academic excellence
The residency is based on these pillars of academic and clinical excellence:
- Volume: Depending on the rotation, residents routinely manage an average of 100 to 150 outpatient cases and provide 25 to 30 inpatient consults each week. They also occasionally take the primary role in managing inpatients on the dermatology inpatient service.
- Education: A robust educational focus includes weekly book review conferences, basic science curriculum, journal club, Kodachrome didactics, inpatient consult rounds, clinical research, and weekly grand rounds alternating between busy clinical settings.
- Diverse pathology: With a broad range of patient demographics and access to local and national referral centers, residents see atypical presentations of common dermatoses as well as very unusual cutaneous diseases. Our residents pride themselves on high acceptance rates of submitted cases to local and national meetings, such as the American Academy of Dermatology’s Gross and Microscopic Case Conference.
- Advanced treatment modalities: Residents enjoy exposure leading-edge modalities including phototherapy, photodynamic therapy, Mohs surgery, laser surgery, and aesthetic procedures.
- Meetings and conferences: Residents are encouraged to submit abstracts, papers, and posters to regional and national meetings and travel funding support is available. A generous book and educational fund helps defer the cost of books and supplies. And all residents are allowed time to attend the yearly American Academy of Dermatology meeting, three times during training.
Curriculum
The Dermatology and Internal Medicine Residency program prepares physicians for clinical and academic careers in dermatology.
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Clinical pathological conference
Meets weekly to discuss current and relevant cases, providing insight into clinical problem solving and the correlation between clinical presentation and pathologic findings.
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Multidisciplinary melanoma and skin cancer tumor board
Weekly tumor board with the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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D.C. resident consortium
Quarterly, large-scale, didactic session conjoined with other dermatology residency programs from around the D.C. region.
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Textbook review
Meets once a week to deepen residents’ medical knowledge of dermatologic conditions and diseases.
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Kodachrome conference
Meets weekly to sharpen residents’ ability to recognize skin disease by means other than clinical examination.
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Journal club
Meets monthly to teach the scientific process of clinical investigation and analysis and to keep residents up to date with the latest methods and technology. -
Grand rounds
Meets weekly to improve recognition of common diseases, rare and exotic diseases, disease processes, and various alternatives to treatment of diseases. Grand rounds are distributed amongst the academic institutions in Washington, D.C., including Georgetown University, George Washington University, Howard University, and the National Institutes of Health.
Schedule
Categorical dermatology sample schedule
Dermatology resident continuity clinic occurs longitudinally throughout the year
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First year
- Seven months general dermatology clinic
- Three months inpatient dermatology
- One month dermatopathology
- One month dermatologic surgery/procedural dermatology
- Night/weekend home call
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Second year
- Seven months general dermatology clinic
- Three months inpatient consults
- One month dermatopathology
- One month dermatologic surgery/procedural dermatology
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Third year
- One and a half month dermatopathology
- One and a half month dermatologic surgery
- One month peds derm/inpatient peds service
- One month inpatient dermatology
- One month contact/patch testing rotation
- Four months general dermatology clinic
Internal medicine and dermatology combined program sample schedule
The medicine component is with the Department of Internal Medicine
Internal medicine continuity clinic occurs throughout PGY1 and PGY3. Dermatology continuity clinic occurs throughout PGY3 and PGY5.
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PGY-1
- Three months of preselected requirements: emergency medicine, infectious disease (inpatient), rheumatology
- Four months inpatient wards
- Two months ICU/CCU
- One month general medicine ambulatory care
- Two weeks night float
- Two weeks elective
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PGY-2
- Three months of preselected requirements: neurology, geriatrics, oncology
- One month medicine consults
- Four months inpatient wards
- Two months of ICU/CCU
- Two elective months
PGY-3, 4, and 5 are similar to the categorical dermatology schedule. Two to three months per year are spent on medicine electives during the final three years
Rotations
A wide range of rotations in different clinical settings exposes residents to a large volume of inpatient and outpatient cases representing a broad diversity of dermatologic disease.
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General dermatology
Clinical blocks in general dermatology are staffed by attendings with diverse interests encompassing general dermatology, complex medical dermatology, immunodermatology, rheum-derm, CTCL, hair diseases, occupational dermatoses, allergic contact dermatitis/patch testing, and cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases.
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Dermatopathology
This educational block is spent signing out cases with staff dermatopathologists, reviewing slide collections to hone skills, and preparing slides and images for grand rounds and upcoming conferences.
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Dermatologic surgery/procedural dermatology
Time is spent with the Mohs surgeon to develop surgical skills and competency in local excisions and Mohs surgery.
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Pediatric dermatology
Rotations at Children's National Hospital includes a vascular anomalies clinic, a pediatric vulvar dermatoses clinic, a general pediatric dermatology clinic, a pediatric procedural clinic, and inpatient/ED consults.
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Inpatient consult services
Numerous inpatient and ED consults are generated from these two large tertiary referral centers composed of 900-plus beds at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and 500-plus beds at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
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Electives/NIH
Clinical rotations are available to upper-level residents as well as a clinical rotation at the National Institutes of Health.
Training locations
MedStar Washington Hospital Center
110 Irving St. NW
Washington, D.C., 20010
Dermatology at MedStar Health at Chevy Chase
5530 Wisconsin Ave
Ste. 730
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Children's National Hospital
111 Michigan Avenue NW
Washington, D.C., 20010
National Institutes of Health
10 Center Drive,
Bethesda, MD 20892
Howard University Hospital
2041 Georgia Avenue
Washington, D.C., 20060
(202) 865-6100
Contact us
We welcome your questions about our program. For additional information, please contact:
Administrative Director, Dermatology Education
5530 Wisconsin Ave
Suite 660
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Phone: 202-731-9910
Email: Naomi.N.Simwenyi@medstar.net