Our Mission
The Department of Dermatology's residency program seeks to produce exceptional clinical dermatologists who practice medical dermatology and/or cutaneous oncology following their residency. The program seeks to accomplish this by having a robust clinical and didactic curriculum that is rooted in the ACGME core competencies.
A special emphasis is placed on producing dermatologists who will work with patient populations that are underserved for geographic or socioeconomic reasons or those who will make important contributions to the future of dermatology by choosing careers as academic clinician educators.
Our residency program is designed to provide outstanding clinical and didactic experiences, led by program director (Kelly Tyler, MD), assistant program director (Jessica Kaffenberger, MD) and director of medical student education (Brittany Dulmage, MD). The program is sufficiently structured to ensure that no topics are neglected, but allows enough flexibility for the interested resident to pursue their preferred area of expertise.
Didactic Program
The residents have protected time for 4 hours each Wednesday afternoon for didactics sessions which include book reviews, faculty lectures, guest faculty lectures, dermatopathology sessions and a surgical lecture series.
Journal Club Series
Once monthly during didactics, a faculty member reviews with the residents key journal articles from one or more core journals including Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, JAMA Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery. Four times per year, the residents have Pediatric Dermatology Journal Club at NCH.
Cosmetics Workshops
Quarterly, our faculty who perform cosmetic procedures lead a 4 hour hands-on workshop on administering botulinum toxin, fillers, sclerotherapy and operating a variety of lasers.
We have continued to increase our cosmetic offerings. One of our faculty, Dr. Desmond Shipp, has completed an ASDS cosmetic surgery fellowship and has training in wrinkles and fold, rejuvenation, resurfacing, veins, body contouring, lifting, hair treatments and scar revision.
Grand Rounds
Nine times yearly, the residents present an average of 6 challenging patient cases with live patient viewing and invite either internal or external faculty to lecture on key topics in dermatology.
Clinical Experience
The residents enjoy a wide variety of clinical experiences during their 3 years at Ohio State.
- Mohs Surgery with Dr. Carr and Dr. Pootrakul
- Dermatopathology sessions with Dr. Chung and Dr. Plaza
- Dermatologic surgery (VA, Resident Surgery Clinic, Nationwide Children’s)
- Veteran’s Administration Medical Dermatology Clinic
- Pediatric Dermatology
- HIV Dermatology
- Complex Medical Dermatology
- Psoriasis Clinic
- Rheumatologic Dermatology Clinic
- Hair Clinic
- Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Atypical Wound Clinic
- Corrections Clinic
- Physician’s Free Clinic
- Laser clinic (KTP, Excimer laser, Nationwide Children’s)
- Dermatologic Oncology including Pigmented Lesions Clinic
- Cutaneous Lymphoma Clinic
- TCA Peel Clinic
- Inpatient Dermatology Follow-up
- Contact Dermatitis/Patch Testing
- Vulvar Dermatology Clinic
Expanded Clinical Experience
In addition to their core training, the residents have the opportunity to do elective rotations outside the medical center, and they can also set up selective clinics with Facial Plastic Surgery, Wound Clinic, Rheumatology, Scleroderma and Lymphedema Clinic.
Research
Residents are required to complete three scholarly projects in conjunction with a dermatology faculty member during their residency training which can include case reports, case series, reviews, book chapters or original research. For interested residents, we have abundant opportunities to work with medical and surgical dermatology faculty on more robust projects such as prospective studies and clinical trials.
Accredited Fellowships
- Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology (MSDO)
- Dermatopathology
- Pediatric Dermatology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
2025-2026 application cycle
The recruitment and selection of dermatology residents will be done in accordance with both The Ohio State University and University Hospital policies of equal opportunity and non-discrimination with regard to sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, disability and veteran status. In addition, the Department of Dermatology will adhere to the eligibility criteria outlined in the Institutional and Common Program Requirements published by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Program Requirements of the Dermatology Resident Review Committee (RRC).
Our goal for this application cycle based on the Association of Professors of Dermatology Program Director Section.
Recommendations to Programs
Program signaling
- Most dermatology programs will participate in signaling through ERAS. A list of participating programs will be released by AAMC after July 1. This year, dermatology will continue with the strategy of 28 program signals – 3 gold, 25 silver. This allows applicants to denote their top 3 programs and an additional 25 programs of particular interest. Importantly, home programs and programs at which an away rotation was completed are not excluded from signaling.
- Applicants may signal their home programs and/or the programs at which they completed a virtual or in-person away rotation. Signals should be used to denote an applicant’s true preference; thus, applicants can consider using a gold or silver for programs at which they rotated or at their home institutions or they may not signal at all if that reflects their true preferences. Programs are encouraged to follow these guidelines and not offer conflicting advice to applicants.
- Of note, based on preliminary data from this past cycle, there is a near-zero chance of interview invite at non-signaled programs. A gold signal confers a greater chance of interview invite than silver, however, this is variable among programs. Please refer to AAMC’s website for more information about program signaling: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-residencies-eras/publication-chapters/program-signals-overview-eras-applicants
- Given this data, applicants are highly discouraged from applying widely. Limiting applications to the 28 signaled programs and, if desired, any program that is not participating in signaling is recommended. As a reminder to programs and applicants, a signal does not guarantee an interview invite.
Coordinated interview invite release
- There will be three sets of interview invite release dates. Participating programs will not release more interview invites than interview slots available. Programs not participating have also been asked to follow this guideline and to post the date of interview invite release on their websites. A list of participating programs will be released later in mid to late August.
2025-2026 Timeline for The Ohio State University Department of Dermatology
- Ohio State University will be participating in the first coordinated interview release date; November 3, 2025.
- OSU Dermatology will be conducting Virtual interviews on December 12, 2025.
Pre- and post-interview communication guidelines
- Before and during interview season, applicants are asked to refrain from contacting programs to express interest or provide application updates prior to interviews, except in truly exceptional circumstances (eg couples matching updates, major life events that impact. preferences). Questions about a program that cannot be easily answered by available materials (website, social media, etc) can be directed to the program.
- Post-interview communication of preference – including “letters of intent” and thank you letters – should not be sent to programs. These types of communication are typically not used by residency programs in decision-making and lead to downstream pressures on applicants.
- Programs are also encouraged to either avoid direct communication with applicants after interviews and before Match Day, or at a minimum, ensure that such communication is informational in nature, avoiding efforts to persuade or pressure candidates, in line with NRMP guidelines. Applicants should not equate lack of communication from programs with lack of interest, just as programs will not equate lack of communication from applicants with lack of interest.
- Additionally, faculty are discouraged from communicating on behalf of applicants to program directors and faculty at other institutions, either before or after interviews. Program faculty can reach out directly to letter-writers or faculty at other institutions to ask questions about an applicant or to gather more information than is available in the letter or application, but this should be instigated by the interviewing program not by the applicant or an applicant’s faculty mentor/advisor.