DermTV viewers can watch me discuss dozens of different subjects in the hundreds of DermTV videos that are available. It’s very gratifying to me that many viewers have asked me the same question: what do they need to do to become a dermatologist? To put the importance of training more dermatologists into perspective, in the United States, with a population of over 300 million people, there are fewer than ten thousand practicing dermatologists, which means, there is only one dermatologist for every thirty or thirty-two thousand people in this country. Let me tell you about the career path that one needs to pursue to become a dermatologist. First of all, you need to graduate from a four year college. And by the way, as we go from level to level, obviously you need to apply and compete against many applicants to get to the next level. So after you graduate from a four year college, you then go to four years of medical school. When you complete medical school, you’re awarded the MD degree, which means you are a medical doctor. But you don’t have a license to practice medicine. Then you need to do one year of internship in a hospital, and during your internship you actually take care of patients under the supervision of more senior doctors. And when you complete your internship, you are then eligible to get a license to practice medicine in whatever state you are in. But if you want to become a specialist, such as a dermatologist, then you need to apply for a residency and in this case, in dermatology. Because residencies in dermatology are so highly sought after, the residency programs have the opportunity to choose the best and brightest applicants because the competition is so fierce. So, what some applicants have done to increase their competitive edge in this process of applying for a residency in dermatology is, after their internship, they have pursued other areas in medicine to achieve additional competency and proficiency such as doing a pediatrics residency, and after doing a pediatrics residency, then applying as a full fledged capable pediatrician to a program for dermatology. Regardless of how you get to and when you do your dermatology residency, it’s a 3 year training program during which you’re training in the hospital taking care of patients and learning all about clinical dermatology. If you want you then have the opportunity to do research. But after that 3 year residency, you then have the qualifications to take the board examination in dermatology to become a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, which is a board certified dermatologist. This may seem like a lot of years of training but I want to assure you, it’s worth every bit of it. I love what I do. I wouldn’t trade it for any other profession. And I would encourage anybody who has interest in the content in what they’ve seen in DermTV, to follow their dreams and pursue a career in dermatology.
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