Written by Dr. Abel Torres
Beginning in 2019, our Pediatric Dermatology services expanded to serve patients at the Jacksonville (Deerwood) clinic, in addition to Gainesville. In Gainesville, we piloted a new pediatric dermatology continuity clinic with our residents, which has been well-received and a lot of fun!
2020 marked a milestone for UF Pediatric Dermatology as Dr. Jennifer Schoch was awarded an NIH KL2 award for her project “Early determinants of the preterm infant cutaneous microbiome.” This is a career development award which allowed Dr. Schoch to develop the skills and data necessary to apply for additional funding, and is the first NIH funding received by the department. Dr. Schoch also spoke at the 2020 Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance conference, sharing her insight as an early career investigator and her transition to a physician scientist. At this time, we have two active prospective studies investigating the neonatal/infantile skin microbiome, as well as 5 multi-center projects investigating pediatric discoid lupus, severe drug reactions, the psychosocial burden of pediatric skin disease, skincare practices in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and neonatal hospital consults.
In July of 2022, Dr. Michael Lavery, who recently completed a Pediatric Dermatology fellowship at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital joined us and will help expand the clinical pediatric dermatology services, which are currently in very high demand.