Program Overview

Our curriculum prepares you to become a member of the American College of Mohs Surgery. You will gain experience in diverse clinical and educational settings and engage in research, lab management, and teaching residents and medical students.

The fellowship focuses on Mohs and reconstructive surgery and conditions related to dermatologic oncology, with an additional minor portion focusing on cosmetic training and maintenance of medical dermatology knowledge and skills.

You will be involved in a longitudinal research project, which the program director and associate program director will begin planning with you shortly after Match Day. You will be expected to complete a research project for poster or oral presentation at a national meeting and/or submit to a peer-reviewed journal.

Your clinical rotations will take place mainly at our Department of Dermatology. Our Mohs unit has eight surgical exam rooms and a CAP-accredited laboratory. Our cosmetic suite has dedicated rooms to perform laser therapy, neurotoxin and filler injections, sclerotherapy, and other cosmetic procedures.

Our program provides you with multidisciplinary experience on complex surgical and oncologic cases, where you’ll collaborate with Surgical Oncology, Oculoplastic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Radiation Oncology, and Plastic Surgery.

You will also have exposure to a county hospital setting at Riverside University Health System (RUHS). There, you’ll receive one-on-one mentorship from the surgical faculty while performing various dermatologic procedures. You’ll also train in the medical dermatology clinic and see inpatient consults to maintain medical dermatology knowledge and skills.

By the end of the year, you will comfortably exceed the minimal standards established by the ACGME for the fellowship year.

Our program provides a well-rounded didactic and conference schedule. You will attend a surgical anatomy course relevant to skin cancer surgery and a suturing technique course at the beginning of the training year. You'll participate in monthly didactic sessions through the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) Fellows-in-Training lecture series in addition to monthly journal club sessions through the National Dermatologic Surgery Journal Club and a dermatologic surgery journal club at Loma Linda University.

You will attend Loma Linda Dermatology Grand Rounds, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, and Multidisciplinary Tumor Board Conference. You'll also be required to attend the annual ACMS meeting.

You will engage with the faculty and staff in regularly scheduled laboratory meetings for our CAP-accredited Mohs laboratory. Details of the process of setting up and operating the laboratory, along with laboratory compliance and competencies, will also be reviewed as part of the curriculum.

You will present one Grand Rounds lecture and two surgical didactic lectures to the residents during the fellowship year. You'll also be involved in clinical teaching of residents and medical students.

Upon graduation, a case log documenting your cases is required and will be submitted, along with a letter of recommendation from the Program Director for membership into the ACMS.