Picture this! You’ve just spent the day treating patients with the most complex and fascinating symptoms you’ve ever seen. You’ve worked with patients from underserved populations from all over New Mexico and even neighboring regions. You know you’ve done good and inspired work today, because you helped many who otherwise might never get the care they need and deserve. But you’re not tired. Instead, you’re energized! You’re heading out to a local café where most everything is loaded with green or red chile with a couple of friends. And then you’re going for a sunset hike in the Sandia Mountains. That’s a typical day for you.
Hello! I’m Dr. Emily Altman, and I am the Residency Program Director in the Department of Dermatology at the University of New Mexico (UNM). I am thrilled to welcome you to this exciting, challenging, and inspiring program. Our primary goal is to recruit residents of diverse experience and backgrounds and train them to be outstanding clinicians and leaders in Dermatology. Please see our Mission Statement and our Commitment to Diversity Statement for more information.
The UNM Dermatology Residency Program is accredited by the ACGME for three years of dermatology training. Because we had the opportunity to design a program from scratch, we made sure it has all the elements needed to provide excellent training in all aspects of dermatology. Our program includes training in general and complex medical dermatology, pediatric dermatology, aesthetics including an extensive selection of lasers, consultative dermatology, dermatologic/Mohs surgery and dermatopathology. Our specialty clinics include the Cutaneous Oncology Clinic, Transplant Clinic and Vascular Anomalies Clinic. New Mexico has more than 300 days of sunshine a year, which leads to a large burden of skin cancer in our population. Our residents gain extensive surgical experience in our Mohs Unit, their own surgical continuity clinics and the VA Medical Center. Additionally, our residents learn noninvasive skin imaging with reflectance confocal microscopy, another outstanding feature of UNM Dermatology.
As the only academic dermatology department in New Mexico, which also has a shortage of practicing dermatologists, we are a referral center for the entire state and nearby areas of Texas, Colorado and Arizona. Parts of the State have no dermatologists in a radius of more than 100 miles. Some of our patients travel hours to see us. Further, New Mexico is a majority-minority state. The diversity of our patients is astounding and provides our residents the unique opportunity to treat a patients of many cultures and backgrounds.
This program draws residents who want to work with underserved populations, experience the cultures and history of the people here, see remarkable skin pathology and learn from our excellent faculty.
We understand the challenges of going through an application process, especially in these unprecedented times. We will do everything we can to make this process as smooth as possible. Please see below for a Consensus Statement from Dermatology Program Directors. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly at ealtman@salud.unm.edu.
Thank you for your interest in UNM Dermatology!
Best,
Emily M. Altman, MD, FAAD
Program Director
Vice Chair of Education
Associate Professor
UNM Department of Dermatology