Embrace the Fun in Fundamentals

Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD

We’re in the home stretch of 2024. Leaves are falling, pumpkin spice is in the air, and temporary Halloween shops dot the landscape of once vibrant strip malls, prompting the yearly debate with my wife: What’s the family Halloween costume? My motivation to dress up for Halloween disappeared in 6th grade (you try trick-or-treating in Chicago, Illinois, on October 31 and see how long you can last outside), but after our daughter and son were born, we decided to get back into the holiday spirit. We determined that a literary theme would be a perfect way to encourage early reading (no pressure, kids). Thus, each year we create a new family costume based on a book that we read together. Recent years have included Little Red Riding Hood, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...timeless classics.

Thinking about this year’s costumes got me reflecting on the inherent bookishness that comes with our career path. Dermatology is unique in many ways, but one aspect that really sets it apart is the way we train from the earliest days of our residency. A core part of dermatology residency is spent on formal reading, writing, studying, and presenting. But in dermatology, we do didactics a little bit differently than other specialties. We are personally responsible for so much of our education, and even more so, for the education of those around us. Whether it’s going chapter by chapter from our own timeless classics, putting together kodachromes and dermpath unknowns, or rapid-fire board review, when it comes down to it, we teach each other.

But the coolest part of our specialty is that it doesn’t stop there. Dermatology is composed of so many weird and wonderful conditions with distinct presentations—it’s why the history of our specialty is built on case reports. If case presentations sound like derms teaching derms, you’d be correct. What about our (approximately) 1000 yearly conferences? I’ve been known to partake a time or two. Yup, there it is again, derms teaching derms. And just look at the number of articles written by your colleagues in this month’s issue of Dermatology Times: You’re reading this, so yes, it’s still derms teaching derms.

And if none of that is in your wheelhouse, it’s all good! That’s the great thing about dermatology: You have the power of choice, and it can be exactly what you make of it. Be creative with how you approach your educational mission. Keep reading, keep learning, and, above all, elevate the standard of care in our specialty beyond the very hungry caterpillars of yore.

Raj Chovatiya, MD, PhD, MSCI, is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School in Illinois and founder and director of the Center for Medical Dermatology and Immunology Research.