Congratulations to MS4 student Brittany Maner for her recent publication The Magnitude of COVID-19’s Effect on the Timely Management of Melanoma and Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers in the April edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology on ScienceDirect

Due to various dermatologic conditions Brittany suffered as a child, she became interested in the field of dermatology and discovered there was more depth than the average person believes, “I realized that dermatology was so much more than just acne, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis management. It was more than cosmetic dermatology. It was surgery, cutaneous presentation of systemic diseases, infectious disease, and cancer detection and management,” said Brittany.   

Brittany Maner

Serving as a dermatology research fellow, Brittany’s role was to obtain data through chart reviewing, EMR systems, and analysis of patients diagnosed with basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and cutaneous melanomas. After comparing these findings, her team discovered that patients were not diagnosed with these malignancies in 2020 as they were in 2019. This led to the conclusion that their diagnosis delayed and explained why patients being admitted with further advanced cutaneous malignancies.

In the future, Brittany aspires to specialize in dermatology with a focus on patients of color, “I have noticed that there is a lack of focus on patients of color within the world of dermatology. Patients of color often present differently than those who are not patients of color and have different treatment regimens. I would also like to focus on patients of color with pigmentary disorders and developing patient-centered treatment regimens.

In 2020, 91% of RUSM students passed the initial step of the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®) on the first attempt. And in 2022-2023, results show yet another strong year for RUSM with a 97% first-time residency attainment rate* thus far. Located on the island of Barbados and with a network of more than 15,000 alumni, RUSM is one of the largest providers of doctors for the U.S. healthcare system. RUSM graduates practice in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico.

*First time residency attainment rate is the percent of students attaining a 2023-24 residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2022-23 who were active applicants in the 2023 NRMP match or who attained a residency position outside the NRMP match.