Dermatopathology

Program Description

Dermatologists encounter a variety of lesions with skin presentations such as: inflammatory skin diseases, blistering diseases, pigmented and depigmented lesions, granulomatous, cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases and benign and malignant cutaneous tumors, appendages and soft tissue, and metastatic manifestations of tumors in other organs, etc., so they need a close cooperation with pathologists for proper diagnosis and management of patients. Hence, a curriculum was developed in 1950s in which dermatologists and pathologists worked together to effectively improve the diagnostic issues and consequently provide more accurate and comprehensive treatment for patients with skin diseases. In 1980s, we felt the need for such a curriculum more than ever, so a local curriculum was developed to train specialists in this field. In 2009, the Ministry of Health considered the development of a curriculum for a fellowship course. To this end, a committee was established with the faculty members who had passed the course of dermatopathology or were familiar with its details. The curriculum was prepared in several meetings. 

Definition

Dermatopathology fellowship is a subspecialty of dermatology and pathology, whose graduates are trained in a joint program for better and more accurate diagnosis of skin diseases, hence more accurate treatment.

Objectives:

1-To train knowledgeable, competent and committed specialists who are competent in diagnosing skin diseases more accurately, hence provide better treatment, and continuously improve this process.

2-In next 10 years, we will reach world standards regarding education in dermatopathology fellowship so that we will be among the top countries in the Middle East regarding providing high quality service provision and science production.