Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Training at UCSF
Our Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Program is built on a legacy of clinical excellence, leadership, scholarship and service. For decades, we’ve trained compassionate, curious and thoughtful dermatologists to become pediatric dermatologists who make meaningful, lasting impacts in the lives of children, families and our specialty. Our fellows are at the heart of what we do. Through hands-on clinical and procedural training, close mentorship, and a deeply supportive environment, we help each fellow grow into a confident, thoughtful clinician—ready to lead, teach, and advocate in a rapidly evolving field. In addition to traditional clinical training, we offer unique education in the realm of social drivers of health. We believe that our field is stronger when our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, and welcome fellows from all backgrounds and life experiences who are committed to serving culturally diverse and underserved populations. Our program is more than a fellowship—it’s an educational community and experience within UCSF Dermatology and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital with a long-standing legacy. We invite you to apply and learn more about our program, and how our faculty and community nurture and shape each fellow’s educational journey to best suit their learning style, needs, interests and goals. Our award-winning educators offer consistent clinical guidance, broad educational opportunities, and a deep commitment to patient care, teamwork, and personal and professional growth.
Mission Statement
The UCSF Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Program is committed to shaping the next generation of pediatric dermatologists to deliver exceptional, compassionate care to children, adolescents and young adults with all skin conditions. Our fellows gain broad clinical and procedural experience, guided by dedicated mentorship that nurtures intellectual curiosity, clinical excellence, and lasting career fulfillment.
Whether in pediatric dermatology clinics, multidisciplinary clinics, procedural settings or educational conferences, our faculty cultivate a culture of humility, integrity, and personal well-being, while holding ourselves to the highest standards in patient care, education, and innovation. Our program supports the development of fellows as reflective clinicians, effective educators, fierce advocates and forward-thinking leaders.
UCSF is deeply committed to diversity and inclusivity as core values. We seek fellows from all backgrounds and life experiences who are passionate about serving culturally diverse and medically underserved communities. Our clinical mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of all children with skin disease, and train future generations of pediatric dermatologists who share this value system.
UCSF Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Information for 2025-2026
- Applicant review: UCSF Pediatric Dermatology employs a holistic approach, considering academic credentials, aptitude, personal characteristics like motivation and integrity, communication skills, and alignment with the program's mission.
- Interview Formats: Interviews are generally conducted to gather supplemental information about the applicant and provide them with a chance to learn more about the program. In recent cycles, interviews have been conducted virtually, ensuring equitable access for all candidates.
- Interview Mechanism: We recognize there are financial, environmental, educational, and other costs of travel for in-person interviews. The UCSF Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship will therefore offer a virtual meet and greet and virtual interviews. We are working with our GME Office to determine whether in-person visits can also be offered for the 2025/2026 application cycle.
- Selection Committee: Our selection committee is comprised of our Program Director, Associate Program Director, core teaching faculty, current and recent fellows.
- Interview Content: Interviews will cover your interest in our program and specialty, your experiences, skills, and goals and how they align with our mission and program requirements. We also discuss how our program can best suit your needs and how we might adapt and flex to deliver your ideal, personalized educational experience.
- Post-Interview Communication: We encourage post-interview questions and communication. We will never pressure applicants to disclose ranking preferences or try to influence their ranking decisions.
CORE FACULTY:
UC San Francisco
Kelly M. Cordoro, MD, Fellowship Director, and Division Chief
Ilona J. Frieden, MD, Faculty, and Immediate Past Division Chief
Erin Mathes, MD, Faculty
Sarah Coates, MD, Faculty
Anu Mathur, MD, PhD, Faculty
Joanna Tu, MD, Faculty
UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
Nicole Kittler, MD, Faculty and Section Director
Renee Howard, MD, Faculty; Immediate Past Section Director
Regina-Celeste Ahmad, MD, PhD, Faculty
Manisha Notay, MD, Faculty
VOLUNTEER FACULTY:
Amy Gilliam, MD (former fellow and community partner)
FELLOWS:
2024/2025: Erica Lee, MD and Deeti Pithadia, MD
2025/2026: Sonia Havele, MD and Flora Bradley, MD
Location and General Information
The Division of Pediatric Dermatology main clinical practice site and home base for fellows is located at the Mt. Zion Campus of UC San Francisco. Additional clinical activity, the inpatient consultation service, OR-based procedures and multi-disciplinary clinics are located at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco at the Mission Bay Campus.
Our clinical activity is very brisk and there is broad exposure to all skin conditions in diverse patient populations. We complete over 6,000 visits per year in the pediatric division at the Mt. Zion campus and the other sites have a similarly robust volume and breadth.
Inpatient consults number approximately 200 per year and are seen at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco at the beautiful waterfront Mission Bay Campus. This campus houses tons of yummy food, our NBA and WNBA arena, SF Giants baseball stadium, and an abundance of cultural, fitness, sports, food, water-based and other recreational activities.
We have a large clinical section at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland. Fellows do not rotate in Oakland but will receive educational content from our OAK faculty.
Surgical and Laser Training
We have an active laser practice that serves patients with vascular anomalies, pigmented lesions, other birthmarks and skin conditions. Laser and surgical procedural clinics occur twice monthly in our outpatient center at Mt. Zion and once monthly in the operating room at UCSF Children’s Hospital Mission Bay.
Subspecialty and Multidisciplinary Clinics
Birthmarks and Vascular Anomalies Conference occurs twice monthly at Mission Bay (Drs. Frieden, Mathes, and Kittler from pediatric dermatology among other medical specialists).
Pediatric Rheum/Derm Clinic occurs monthly at Benioff Children’s Hospital Mission Bay (Drs. Cordoro, Mathur, Pediatric Rheumatology Faculty).
Chronic GVHD Clinic quarterly at Mission Bay (Drs. Cordoro, Mathur, BMT Faculty, others)
Ectodermal Dysplasia Conference quarterly (Dr. Tu, others)
Disorders of Cornification at Mt. Zion (Dr. Mathes, typically integrated into clinic)
Scholarship, Research and Innovation
Our faculty have multiple and wide-ranging areas of interest and expertise. Research projects include investigator-initiated studies as well as PeDRA-affiliated studies in Vascular Anomalies, inflammatory and genetic skin disease, pediatric melanoma and other areas such as education, global health, and patient-oriented work. By ACGME requirement, fellows are expected to engage in scholarly work during their fellowship.
Number of Positions: 2 annually
Eligibility Requirements: US American Board of Dermatology (ABD) Certified or Eligible (must have completed a US ACGME or Canadian Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons accredited Dermatology residency by the start of the fellowship and be eligible and obtain a California Medical License).
How to Apply: Please apply through the SF Match. A statement of interest/personal statement, CV, and three letters of recommendation should be emailed to Fellowship Director, Kelly Cordoro ([email protected]) and Fellowship Administrator, Chris Walker (chris.walker@ucsf.edu).
Summary: Please refer to the powerpoint presentation for a detailed overview. The UCSF Pediatric Dermatology Division has two funded, ACGME-accredited clinical fellowship positions each year. We offer strong outpatient and inpatient clinical training, outpatient and OR-based laser and procedural surgery, multiple multidisciplinary clinical experiences, active mentorship, clinical diversity, and scholarly activity and research opportunities. Our pediatric dermatology fellowship core teaching faculty includes 4 full-time clinicians and 2 part-time clinicians (world-renowned Dr. Ilona Frieden, and an expert pediatric dermatologist/immunologist Dr. Anu Mathur). The core of the training is based within the UCSF Department of Dermatology, allowing for regular interactions with our large and talented dermatology faculty including dermatopathologists, dermatologic surgeons, cosmetic and general and subspecialty dermatologists. Fellows consistently interact with UCSF pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists via our busy inpatient consultation service and several multidisciplinary clinics (Birthmarks/Vascular Anomalies, Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease, Rheum/Rheum Clinic). Several of our pediatric dermatologists are leaders in the department and members of the prestigious UCSF Academy of Medical Educators (Drs. Mathes (also Residency Program Director) and Cordoro (Pediatric Derm Division Chief) as well as teaching award recipients (Drs. Frieden, Mathes, Cordoro, Coates and Tu). Because we have served the SF Bay Area for more than 3 decades, we see a high volume of both complex and common skin problems in a diverse patient population. UCSF Pediatric Dermatology has a rich history and a strong reputation.
Informational Powerpoint
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