Q&A: Lecture series aims to educate on skin of color topics

Massachusetts General Hospital has launched an on-demand, virtual lecture series focusing on topics related to dermatology treatments and diagnoses for skin of color.

Topics included in the course include skin cancer in diverse skin types, rashes in darker skin, hyperpigmentation and hypopigmentation, vitiligo, hair disorders and more.

Healio spoke with A. Shadi Kourosh, MD, MPH, assistant professor of dermatology and director of community health at Harvard Medical School, founding director of the Clinic for Pigmentary Disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the course’s creator and director, about what this series can offer clinicians.

Healio: Can you give us an overview of the course’s purpose?

Kourosh: The MGH International Skin of Color Speaker Series is a course specifically designed to focus on diversity and cultural competency in dermatology in response to the practice gap that has been identified in our field. We aim to make sure that our dermatology education represents a diversity of skin types.

Healio: Who would most benefit from participating in the course?

Kourosh: Our target audience is dermatologists who seek to improve their own training, specifically in skin of color, and physicians of other backgrounds or specialties who might triage basic skin conditions and try to manage them before their patients can reach a dermatologist.

This is in response to requests for increased training from our colleagues in primary care who often refer to dermatologists but ask us for guidance in what they can do to start a plan of care before a patient can reach a dermatologist. In many parts of the country there are long wait times to see a dermatologist.

Healio: What can clinicians expect to take home from this speaker series?

Kourosh: First, an improved exposure to the images, and skills on how to recognize basic skin conditions in diverse skin types. Sometimes the presentation of a skin condition can look different on different skin types, so depending on where a person had their dermatology training, they may have had variable exposure and experience in seeing the same skin conditions in enough cases of diverse skin types. We are hoping to standardize and improve equity in medical education by creating this curriculum that is available for any health care provider to learn at their own pace, online.

We are fortunate to have some of the most renowned experts in skin of color, including Dr. Susan Taylor, the founder of the Skin of Color Society.

Healio: Why is it important for clinicians to keep up to date on skin of color manifestations of dermatologic conditions?

Kourosh: So that we can better serve our diverse patient population coming to see us from all backgrounds and walks of life. We as dermatologists need to have the experience in caring for diverse patients and the cultural competency to better serve them.

Healio: How is this course different from others offered elsewhere?

Kourosh: This is a primer for the hot, current topics in skin of color education in a focused and condensed online, learn-at-your-own-pace course. It brings the benefit of having international experts from around the world.

I see this as one of many resources that our team of experts in the Skin of Color Society will be able to offer the dermatology community and the medical community at large.

Registration for the MGH International Skin of Color Lecture Series is $445 for physicians and doctoral-level professionals and $100 for students and residents. There are discounted registrations available for groups and departments.

Those interested in the course can visit www.MGHcme.org/skinofcolor or email Kourosh at shadi@mail.harvard.edu.