Combined Medicine and Dermatology Training

Only Applications through ERAS to the combined Medicine/Dermatology program will be accepted.

The Department of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Department of Dermatology co-sponsor a combined Internal Medicine/Dermatology Residency Training Program. This program is approved by both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Dermatology. It is a five-year training program that allows residents to train simultaneously in internal medicine and dermatology, leading to board eligibility in both. The goal of the program is to train leaders in academic medicine with a focus on complex medical dermatology. The first year is training in internal medicine, the second year is training in dermatology, and years three to five each include six months of internal medicine and six months of dermatology. This program will provide an opportunity for those dermatology applicants who are interested in expanding their medical training. It is suited for individuals interested in an academic career focused on the care of complex medical dermatology patients or in a subspecialty area of medical dermatology. The five years of curriculum has been designed jointly by the Departments of Medicine and Dermatology under the direction of Dr. Todd Barton and Dr. Victoria Werth.

Application requirements

• An application to the combined Internal Medicine/Dermatology Residency training program
• Completed ERAS application and CV. Use the ERAS code for the combined Internal Medicine/Dermatology Residency program to designate your interest. The Med/Derm NRMP program code is 1628785C0.
• USMLE transcript
• Your Current Curriculum Vitae
• A Dean’s letter
• A letter from the applicant’s institution Chair or Chair-designee for Internal Medicine
• Letter from the Chair or Chair-designee for Dermatology
• Two additional letters; one from Internal Medicine faculty member with whom the applicant worked clinically, and one from a Dermatology faculty member with whom the applicant worked clinically. (two total IM letters and two total dermatology letters including the Chair letters, above)
• A personal statement; it is recommended that the personal statement discuss the candidate’s interest in the combined program
• A transcript
• A photograph
• Applicants invited for interviews will accomplish both Medicine and Dermatology interviews on the same day. Interview selection letters usually are mailed the first week of December.

Important Program Dates

Important Dates (for program starting July 2022)

Application Deadline: Prior to October 21, 2021
Dean’s Letter Deadline: October 21, 2021
Interview Invitations Issued (Except Penn Students): By December 8, 2021
Interview Dates: January 6, 13, 20, 2022

For additional information about this program, please contact Dr. Victoria Werth.

Program Directors

Overview of program

Each resident has graded responsibilities in Medicine and Dermatology throughout the training, including weekly continuity clinics in Medicine (PGY-1), in both Medicine and Dermatology (PGY-2 and PGY-3), and in Dermatology (PGY-4 and PGY-5).

Examples of career paths in residency

The identification of a career path should ideally take place within the first three to four years of the combined Medicine-Dermatology program. Early identification of a career path is an individualized process, and the combined program at Penn is structured to provide mentors in every aspect of complex medical dermatology. Choosing a specific path with the aid of mentors will optimize both the educational experience of the residents and facilitate development of an academic career that builds upon this specialized training. Elective rotations can supplement the formal curriculum.

Inpatient Dermatology

Penn has a large medicine hospitalist program and one of the largest inpatient dermatology consult services in the country. Drs. Rosenbach, Micheletti, and Steele supervise the inpatient consult dermatology service, and residents are exposed to the full breadth of inpatient dermatology consults during their training. Residents who foresee a career in hospitalist medicine and dermatology can spend additional time on inpatient rotations.

Infectious Disease / Global Health

Penn offers an exceptional infectious disease subdivision of internal medicine, combined with dermatology faculty with extensive experience and international recognition for their work on infectious disease issues in dermatology. During their medicine time, residents can rotate on the General Infectious Disease (ID) consult service and inpatient service, as well as the Transplant ID consult service (solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients) during electives. Combined track residents with a focused interest on ID-derm spend additional time in the HIV-dermatology clinic. Penn offers the unique Global Health Track, which is available to combined program trainees. Residents in the Global Health track have exposure to internationally recognized infectious disease doctors and dermatologists with expertise in tropical and infectious dermatoses. Residents in this track can complete a month-long didactic experience as part of the cross-departmental Penn Global Health Track and may have the opportunity to travel to Botswana as part of the Botswana / UPenn Partnership and American Academy of Dermatology elective, affording residents interested in this career path a rich tropical medicine experience. Alternate foreign rotations can be arranged with approval. Telemedicine experience gained by working with leaders in the field, such as Dr. Kovarik, will be available.

Oncodermatology

In addition to the core inpatient oncology rotations that comprise the Internal Medicine residency training, individuals can choose additional oncology exposure on the inpatient oncology service. Interested residents may tailor their elective time to include more exposure to cutaneous oncology including melanoma, cutaneous lymphoma, and cutaneous manifestations of oncologic disease. The Dermatology core curriculum provides additional oncology exposure through:

• Cutaneous oncology group, which interfaces with medicine in many ways at Penn, including the multidisciplinary melanoma and cutaneous lymphoma clinics
• Graft-Versus Host clinic and Urgent Care Clinic
• Inpatient Dermatology Consult Service, where the greatest single source of consults is Penn’s active bone marrow transplant unit and oncology ward.

During the PGY-5 year, residents can opt for further continuity clinic within oncology.

Rheumatology

Residents interested in a career with a focus on Dermatology-Rheumatology can rotate on additional rheumatology inpatient consult months and outpatient rheumatology clinics. During dermatology training, residents rotate through the autoimmune skin disease clinics with subspecialty clinics devoted to lupus/dermatomyositis, sarcoidosis, vasculitis, and psoriasis. The inpatient dermatology consult experience and the urgent care clinic provide residents with the chance to care for patients with acute complications of connective tissue diseases as well as those with severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Recent Program Graduates

• Misha Rosenbach: Assoc Prof UPenn, complex medical derm, inpatient derm, granulomatous diseases, drug reactions
• Robert Micheletti: Asst Prof Upenn, complex med derm, inpt derm, vasculitis, GVHD, drug reactions
• Sotonye Imadojemu: Asst Prof Harvard, complex med derm, inpt derm
• Amy Forrestel: Asst Prof UPenn / Botswana, complex med derm, inpt derm, tropical/ID-derm

If interested in discussing the program with any of the below recent graduates, please contact:
Ms. Barbara Lang for details. (barbara.lang@pennmedicine.upenn.edu)