Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Program

Program Identity & Fit

VCU's dermatology residency is a small, academic university-based program (two residents per year) rooted in a long-standing departmental history dating to 1958, with training split between VCU Medical Center and a substantial (50% first two years) commitment to the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center. The program serves as a referral center for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, alopecia, and Mohs micrographic surgery, giving residents exposure to complex referral-based medical dermatology alongside subspecialty rotations in pediatric dermatology, cosmetic/laser surgery, and dermatopathology taught by fellowship-trained faculty. Curriculum is dense and structured (photoclinical grand rounds, dermatopathology conferences with community dermatopathologists, resident-led teaching, journal club), and the department explicitly describes an "increasing emphasis on research and scholarship," encouraging resident participation in clinical trials and basic science without positioning research as the program's central identity. The personalized, small-cohort structure and community-physician subspecialty rotations suggest a program valuing well-rounded clinical competence and individualized mentorship over high-volume production or a single dominant subspecialty track.