Dermatology APP Fellowship

An advanced practice provider examines a patient's skin

OHSU Dermatology is excited to offer the Dermatology Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship, a subspecialty training program created specifically for APPs interested in joining the field of dermatology. The Dermatology APP Fellowship program is a 12-month program designed to provide high level dermatology training to both NPs and PAs. Both new graduates and experienced APPs who are looking to change specialties into dermatology are eligible to apply. We are currently accepting 1 APP per year. 

The fellowship will have structured didactics simultaneously with the OHSU dermatology residency program. The APP will engage in faculty clinics as well as supervised continuity clinics later in the curriculum. The focus of training is on diagnosis and management of common and complex medical dermatology. The APP will rotate through several multidisciplinary clinics: CLEAR Eczema Center — Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) Care, Center of Excellence for Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (CEPPA), Melanoma Multidisciplinary Clinic, and others. The training will be with our renowned board-certified dermatologists, NP, and PA faculty. Through the rigorous 12- month program, the APP will build strong clinical knowledge and will meet core competencies as outlined in the program. The PA will complete the SDPA Diplomate Fellowship as part of graduation. The NP will be encouraged to become a Dermatology Certified Nurse Practitioner through the DNPCB and will complete the NP dermatology curriculum.  

The mission of the OHSU Dermatology Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship is to establish and maintain a high-quality, structured, and comprehensive educational program for APPs within the specialty of Dermatology.  The Fellowship provides dermatology-specific competencies, provides team-based learning, and allows transition to specialty clinician roles for APPs.  The program will emphasize quality care of skin, hair, nails and mucous membranes and will focus on new knowledge, research and treatment for patients with skin diseases. 

The vision of the OHSU Dermatology Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship is to define and promote excellence in the education of APPs within the specialty of Dermatology.  This program, along with its future Dermatology APPs, its educators, collaborators and patients, will help the Dermatology Department at OHSU continue to realize its own vision: To be a worldwide leader in freeing the world of human suffering caused by disorders of the skin.

Our 12-month Advanced Practice Provider Dermatology Fellowship is designed for:

  • Newly graduated nurse practitioners and physician assistants seeking clinical and didactic experience in dermatology.
  • APPs with no dermatology background who want to transition to specialty care. 

By the start of the program, successful applicants must:

  • Be U.S. citizens or legally able to work in the U.S
  • Have completed an accredited PA or NP master’s program
  • Have unencumbered licensure as either:
      • A physician assistant with the Oregon Medical Board
      • A nurse practitioner with the Oregon State Board of Nursing with certification in one of the following areas:
      • Family
      • Adult
      • Adult gerontology acute/primary care, or
      • Acute care
  • Have national board certification as a:
    • Physician assistant from the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) within 6 months of beginning fellowship OR
    • Nurse practitioner from a nationally accredited organization such as the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
  • Eligible for DEA licensure
  • Have BLS/ACLS certification

To apply

Application deadline for entry into the 2025 cohort is January 15, 2025. Late applications will not be accepted.

To apply:

  1. Complete the online application — Dermatology APP Fellowship. In addition to the required fields, you will upload:
    • Curriculum vitae
    • A personal statement describing why you are pursuing a post-graduate fellowship in dermatology and your career goals upon graduation
      1. The use of generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, in your personal statement is prohibited.  You must include an attestation with your personal statement confirming it is an original work developed without the use of AI technology
      2. Please keep length to one page, double-spaced, in 12-point text
  2. In addition to the online application, transcripts and letters of recommendations will need to be emailed directly from the source to ohsudermjobs@ohsu.edu :
    • Two (2) letters of recommendation. Evaluators must use official letterhead and email them directly
      • New graduates must submit one letter from a physician or APP mentor and one from a faculty member of your graduate program
      • Experienced APPs must submit one letter from a peer and one from a person of your choice who is qualified to comment on your professional practice.
    • Unofficial PA or NP graduate transcripts. Your accredited program must email these directly

Program information

  • Hired as an employee (Instructor level)
  • 40 hours weekly in the dedicated learner program
  • Salary paid every 2 weeks
  • No tuition expenses
  • Paid time off/sick time
  • OHSU Health insurance
  • Living expenses such as housing, meals, transportation and parking are at the fellow’s expense.

Didactic and clinical instruction are parallel. Our program delivers a comprehensive curriculum for the fellow in general and complex dermatology, procedural skills, pediatric dermatology, and quality improvement. Fellows will be required to complete the SDPA Diplomate Fellowship™️ Program or the NP Dermatology Curriculum. All fellows will receive a certificate of completion.

Didactic:

  • Weekly morphology conferences
  • Weekly conferences (Journal Club, faculty forum, translational talks, research proposals, scanning journal club)
  • Weekly text reviews (Bolognia)
  • Complications conference
  • Bimonthly In-patient conference
  • Professionalism
  • Weekly text review
  • Kodachromes
  • Dermpath/Path unknowns
  • Dermoscopy
  • Genoderm conference
  • Monthly Oregon Dermatology Society (ODS) meetings
  • Annual OSDA conference
  • One annual CME meeting with a dermatology professional organization
  • Sit for the National Dermatology NP Certification through the Dermatology Nursing Certification Board (NP’s)
  • Completion of the online SDPA Diplomate Fellowship™️ Program (PA’s)

Didactic and clinical instruction are parallel. Our program delivers a comprehensive curriculum for the fellow in general and complex dermatology, procedural skills, pediatric dermatology, and quality improvement. Fellows will be required to complete the SDPA Diplomate Fellowship™️ Program or the NP Dermatology Curriculum. All fellows will receive a certificate of completion.

Clinical:

First 3 months are General Dermatology Rotations.  After the first three months, Fellows will rotate every 2-4 weeks in dermatology specialties with faculty experts in the field. Below are some examples of specialty clinics.

  • Psoriasis
  • Wound clinic
  • Atopic Dermatitis
  • Pediatric Dermatology
  • Surgical / Mohs surgery
  • Pigmented Lesion clinic
  • Dermatology surgery and laser
  • Hair and Nail Disorders
  • Autoimmune Disorders
  • Inpatient Dermatology
  • Contact Dermatitis

Continuity Clinics:  Fellow will have their own scheduled patients starting quarter 2 at one half day clinic a month. This allows the fellow to conduct follow ups of their own patients. These will be staffed by faculty.

Upon completion of the APP Dermatology Fellowship, the fellow should be able to demonstrate:

Professionalism and Communication: Demonstrate leadership within the department and University by balancing the roles of a mentor, a mentee, a student, and a provider. Practice OHSU’s Code of Conduct by creating a respectful workplace. Effectively communicate with diverse patients and colleagues in different settings. Demonstrate desire for lifelong learning and embrace constructive criticism.

Equitable Care: Demonstrate acceptance of all backgrounds, beliefs, values, race, sexual choices, and gender identity. Realize our implicit bias and work against structural inequality.

Patient Centered Care: Demonstrate patient centered equitable care by creating a safe patient- provider relationship that is accessible, respectful, and timely while providing quality care. Understand social determinants of health (SDOH) for each patient.

Clinical Reasoning: Demonstrate a growing understanding of Dermatology and be able to discern information and think critically while delivering equitable, quality care.

Clinical Knowledge: Demonstrate Dermatological knowledge and skills and have the maturity to realize opportunities for growth as an individual and as a provider.

Lakshi Aldredge, MSN, ANP-BC, DCNP, FAANP
Nurse Practitioner, Dermatology Service
Director, Family NP Residency Program

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

Vision statement

OHSU Department of Dermatology is a worldwide leader and collaborator with patients, the global dermatology community, and industry in promoting optimum skin health and freeing the world of human suffering caused by disorders of the skin.

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. As the only academic research university and dermatology teaching center in Oregon, our doctors often act as consultants to other health-care providers who wish to gain another opinion on diagnoses or management with complex illnesses, difficult to diagnose conditions, or those experiencing treatment issues in complex and difficult-to-treat diagnoses.

Our hope is that our work makes a difference in your life. 

Training the next generation

Along with striving to be the best clinicians and researchers they can be, our faculty have also dedicated their careers to the training of our next generation's dermatologists. Our dermatology training program has trained nearly 200 dermatologists and is currently training many residents, fellows and students. As patient interaction is a critical part of their education, in your visit you may see residents, fellows, or medical students in addition to your provider team.

For questions related to the Dermatology APP Fellowship, please contact:

Sarah Wilkinson
Education Manager
wilkisar@ohsu.edu

A portrait of Colton Hafeman, F.N.P.

Colton Hafeman, DNP, FNP-BC
(he/him)

Undergraduate: University of Portland, Portland, OR
Graduate: University of Portland, Portland, OR
Clinical Interests: Medical and surgical dermatology, melanoma and early detection of high-risk lesions, laser procedures
Personal Interests: Spending time with my family and two golden doodles, Oregon duck sports, trail biking, exercising, finding good food and traveling