Bonds and bridges: the role of social capital in building a more diverse dermatology workforce.

Several calls to action have been made in response to the lack of racial diversity in dermatology, but we have yet to explore how differences in social capital perpetuate homogeneity in dermatology training programs and the workforce. Herein, the concept of social capital is applied to this problem in dermatology and is used as a scaffold to suggest interventions that may ameliorate the systemic barriers faced by underrepresented-in-medicine (UIM) students.

Specimen Collection for Translational Studies in Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by painful nodules, sinus tracts, and scars occurring predominantly in intertriginous regions. The prevalence of HS is currently 0.053-4%, with a predominance in African-American women and has been linked to low socioeconomic status.

Lessons learned from the development of a hidradenitis suppurativa xenograft mouse model.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease originating from the pilosebaceous unit, in which patients develop painful abscesses, sinus tracts, nodules and scarring, typically in intertriginous areas. Major gaps in our understanding of HS exist, and these may be partially due to the lack of an animal model for experimental studies. We developed an HS xenograft mouse model using human HS lesions grafted onto immunocompromised mice.