Academic Overview:

The goals of the department of dermatology are education, patient care and research. The primary goal of the educational effort is to provide the medical students and house staff with an overview of dermatologic disease, to emphasize the importance of cutaneous signs of internal disease and to encourage progressively more responsible experience in the care of patients with dermatologic disease.

These students and residents participate in the ambulatory and hospital care of patients at Tulane Medical Center Hospital and Clinic, the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, and the University Health Service, all situated in New Orleans. Also the Veterans Affairs Hospital in New Orleans and the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Biloxi, MS. These various clinics and hospitals provide a large group of patients with a wide spectrum of disease. This enhances the educational impact that students and residents receive. In addition to clinical work, the students and resident take part in a regular and fairly vigorous didactic teaching schedule.

The primary patient care activities of concern to the faculty members are the care and treatment of patients at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, Tulane Lakeside Clinic and the Covington Clinic. Each day of the week outpatient dermatology clinics are held at Tulane, and hospitalized patients are attended to either on a consultant or primary care basis. Furthermore, satellite clinics where Tulane dermatology faculty members are the primary physicians for patients include clinics in Alexandria and Covington, LA, as well as in Meridian and Gulfport, MS. Faculty members also participate in the care of patients who are being seen for venereal disease at a public health clinic in the city.

Areas of research opportunities within the department reflect the many sub-specialties of dermatology. These areas of interest to faculty members include immunodermatology, tumor immunology, wound healing, clinical pharmacology, photobiology and mycology. This provides a background for both clinical and basic science research. In addition, throughout each academic year, there are a variety of clinical research studies performed in the department in conjunction with various pharmaceutical companies.

Medical school instruction from the department begins with scheduled lectures in the pre-clinical sciences and acquaints the students with the specialty. Formal clinical instruction in the third year is done primarily through the internal medicine rotation and, in the senior year, through available clinical and research blocks which allow for progressive clinical exposure, responsibility and extensive research opportunities.