Residents at Baylor College of Medicine consider the lecture and conference schedule to be one of the strengths of the program.
One Monday morning per month is dedicated to a resident-prepared basic science lecture. Another is devoted to an administrative meeting with the department chair. Monthly pediatric dermatology conferences are also held on Mondays.
The Tuesday morning lecture series is divided monthly between the faculty of BCM and the UT Houston Medical School. The lecture series is attended by the residents of both schools, who benefit greatly from the wider range of expertise provided by the two shared faculties.
Wednesday morning's Kodachrome conference is also shared by the two schools; residents are asked to provide differential diagnoses for Kodachrome slides brought by the presenter.
The highlight of the week is BCM's Grand Rounds, which is held Thursday morning at the VA Medical Center. Fascinating patient cases provided both by the dermatologists in the community and by the Baylor-affiliated hospitals are presented and discussed informally. Grand Rounds is followed by textbook conference, which is led by a faculty member. Chosen texts vary from major references such as Bolognia, Fitzpatrick, and Andrews, to specialized references such as Fisher's Contact Dermatitis and Bennett's Fundamentals of Cutaneous Surgery. The morning concludes with a resident run conference with subjects and presenters selected by the residents. Journal club is also held on Thursdays during which residents and faculty discuss articles mainly from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and the Archives of Dermatology.
Friday morning conference focuses on dermatopathology, with a discussion based on Lever's textbook and correlating glass slides.
In addition to the regular weekly conferences, residents attend monthly meetings of the Houston Dermatologic Society, during which interesting patients are formally presented. In the past, the HDS meeting has also hosted a variety of world-renowned speakers. The Texas Dermatological Society meets semiannually, and Baylor residents frequently attend these meetings. The annual John Knox Conference features outstanding speakers from throughout the country and is held every fall in Houston or Galveston. The American Academy of Dermatology's annual meeting is attended by all residents. Residents who have had research accepted to additional meetings frequently attend these as well.
