Woodruff Memorial Research Building

The main campus of Emory University lies only six miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. Emory University includes Emory College, Oxford College, a graduate school of arts and sciences, and professional schools of medicine, business, law, and theology. The total student body, including the Health Sciences Center, is 11,353 with 2,500 faculty. Many of the Health Sciences facilities are located on or near Emory's main campus, 631 acres that lie along the Clifton Corridor in a suburban area 15 minutes from downtown. Emory faculty are responsible for more than 1.9 million patient visits a year. Teaching, patient care, and research-the center's core missions-are practiced at various hospitals owned by or affiliated with Emory and in a growing number of EMORY HEALTHCARE sites throughout the city, state, and region.

The origins of the medical school date back to 1854 when Atlanta Medical School, the precursor to Emory's medical school, was chartered by the city. In 1915 the Atlanta Medical School joined Emory College, which was expanding to Atlanta from Oxford, Ga., and became the Emory University School of Medicine. Dermatology has existed as a specialty in Atlanta since the 1890's, with Dr. Charles Wolff, Sr. being the first dermatologist in the city. Until 1961, training in dermatology was provided essentially only to medical students at Emory University School of Medicine by clinical faculty. In 1961, residency training in Dermatology became available at Emory with the formation of the Division of Dermatology as part of the Department of Medicine. Training directors included Drs. A.C. Brown, Sidney Olansky, Hiram Sturm, and Jordan Whyte.

Current Faculty and Staff Members

In 1977, Dermatology gained departmental status with Dr. Henry Earl Jones serving as Chairman. In 1984, he was succeeded by Drs. Robert Reitschel and Marilynne McKay who served as interim chairmen from 1984-85 and 1985-88 respectively. In 1988, Dr. Thomas Lawley became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology. During his term as Chairman, the department grew from three to over twenty full-time faculty members, developing nationally recognized programs in basic research, dermatological surgery, dermatopathology, and dermatological immunology. In 1996, Dr. Lawley became the Dean of the School of Medicine, and Dr. S. Wright Caughman became Acting Chairman. After a national search, Dr. Caughman was offered and accepted the position as Chairman of the Department of Dermatology in September of 1997. Dr. Caughman has continued the expansion and growth of the department. The residency program in Dermatology is approved for fifteen residency positions and covers Emory Hospital, Emory Clinic, the Atlanta Veteran Affairs Hospital, Wesley Woods Hospital, and Grady Memorial Hospital. Residents interact with fourteen full-time, two part-time, and greater than 25 clinical faculty members in these clinics, seeing more than 50,000 patient visits annually. The research program includes six NIH supported basic and clinical investigators that are supported by over 1.5 million dollars in grant support. The training program offers an unrivalled mix of medical and surgical dermatology, all within an environment that integrates basic and clinical research into the training program.

For further information about the Department of Dermatology, please contact:

Tricia Kowalczyk
Program Coordinator
Department of Dermatology:  WMB 5001
Emory University School of Medicine
101 Woodruff Circle
Atlanta, GA  30322
Office:  404-727-5109
Fax:  404-727-5878
Email:  pkowalc@emory.edu