The Department of Dermatology is a full-service academic department of the Oregon Health & Science University whose mission includes a focus on three equally important areas:

• The dedicated care of people with disorders of the skin, hair, nails and mucous membranes
• The training of doctors (dermatologists-in-training, medical students and other students)
• The search for new knowledge through medical research of both treatments and disease

Serving the Pacific Northwest

Since the founding of the medical school in 1887, dermatology has been a part of the curriculum. In 1922, dermatology was formally recognized and by 1929 Lyle B. Kingery, M.D., took on the leadership of the division. From that time to now, the contributions of the department to the Pacific Northwest and to dermatology overall have been extensive. Our esteemed faculty and staff provide exceptional care to patients in the Pacific Northwest and beyond and have contributed important advances to the understanding and treatment of many dermatologic diseases. Our hope is that our work makes a difference in your life.

In addition, our highly successful dermatology training program has trained nearly 200 dermatologists and is currently training many residents, fellows and students. Patient interaction with them is an important part of their education.

As the only academic research university and dermatology teaching center in Oregon, we provide an important resource for the Pacific Northwest - that of referral center. Not only do we provide patients outstanding every-day dermatologic care, but we provide our expertise for patients with complex illnesses, difficult to diagnose conditions, or those experiencing treatment issues; our doctors act as consultants to other health-care providers who wish to gain another opinion on diagnoses or management.

Teachers with extensive expertise

As teachers who are training the next generation of doctors, our professors have extensive expertise across the entire dermatologic spectrum. In addition, many of our distinguished doctors and researchers also have special areas of focus or sub-specialty expertise and have made important contributions in advancing the field of dermatology.

Examples include:

• Skin cancer and skin tumors, with special expertise in Mohs micrographic surgery and reconstruction
• Complicated inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis and bullous pemphigoid
• Pediatric dermatology, featuring Oregon state's only pediatric dermatologists
• Eczema and atopic dermatitis
• Allergic contact and occupational dermatitis
• Dermatopathology, a subspecialty of both dermatology and pathology, through which the skin is studied by viewing cells and tissues under a microscope