Leave of Absence Guidelines

The American Board of Dermatology supports parental, caregiver and medical leave during training beyond time allowed for vacation.

Departure from completing 36 continuous months of fulltime dermatology training, for example medical leave of absence or care of a newborn / immediate family member, should be documented and justified to the Board through the resident evaluation forms filed annually by the program director.  The approval of such absences is at the discretion of the local program director / clinical competency committee.

Absence from training exceeding 8 weeks (6 weeks leave + 2 weeks vacation) in one given year or 16 weeks over three years should be approved only under exceptional circumstances and may necessitate additional training time to ensure that competency requirements are met.  The ABD will rely on the program director to attest when a trainee afforded extra time away from training is competent for initial certification.

Time away spent in program-approved conferences designed to develop dermatology-relevant competencies is not to be used in calculating the total time away from training. Residents may have up to 1 week (5 weekdays) per year for educational leave and anything beyond that is at the discretion of the program director.