2 March 2004

"And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche"
Geoffrey Chaucer

Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology
A Service to the Global Community

IS BACK!!

We are happy to announce that Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology is back in service! VGRD will continue to serve as a gathering place for dermatologists the world over to meet one another and share interesting cases and challenging patients.

Please consider participating in our grand rounds. We look forward to hearing from you, and welcome submission of interesting cases to share with our members. We have a special webpage to accommodate this. VGRD has hundreds of dermatologists on our mailing list and they cover all of the subspecialties in dermatology.

We would particularly like to invite dermatologists from both developed and developing countries to join us and share your experiences with our members. Together we will be able to provide better care for our patients.

We think you will find the new case presentation format to be clear and easy to follow. If you have suggestions on how we can improve it, please let us know.

Our first patient is a 29-yr-old woman with hypopigmented macules and patches for 2 years. This is an interesting case with useful teaching points.

We hope this form of electronic communication and teledermatology through shared knowledge will help to enhance our patient care. Your participation will help to make VGRD successful.

Yours sincerely,

David Elpern MD
The Skin Clinic
Williamstown, MA, USA
( kauai@bcn.net )

Henry Foong FRCP
Foong Skin Specialist Clinic
Ipoh, Malaysia
( bbfoong@pc.jaring.my )

INTRODUCTION

 Virtual Grand Rounds in Dermatology (VGR-D) is a fledgling gathering place for dermatologists the world over to meet with one another and share interesting and/or challenging patients. One may want to ask a question about diagnosis or therapy, present an interesting clinical photo or post a photo or micrograph. We are a group of clinical and academic dermatologists who believe that this form of web-based teledermatology can be both personally and professionally enriching.

     Digital photography makes it possible to post clinical and microscopic images with ease. There are a dizzying number of cameras to choose from. The site creators will help you with advice here if you want.

     Even if one lives in a city with a major medical center it is often difficult to get one's patients to Grand Rounds. And if one does, the turnout may be disappointing. VGR-D is always available. You can post a message at 6:00 p.m. in Boston and Henry Foong may see it at 6:00 a.m. in Ipoh, Malaysia as he sits down at his computer at home. Often, you will have received a few suggestions or comments when you log on in the morning.

     VGR-D aspires to be a virtual consultative and collegial community. John Halle, the 16th Century English physician and writer, penned these perceptive words about the consultation in a long forgotten tract:

When thou arte callde at anye time,
A patient to see:
And dost perceave the cure to grate,
And ponderous for thee:

See that thou laye disdeyne aside,
And pryde of thyne own skyll:
And think no shame counsell to take,
But rather wyth good wyll.

Get one or two of experte men,
To helpe thee in that neede;
To make them partakers wyth thee
In that work to procede....

     Halle's words guide us as we gather almost 500 years later in a consultative community the likes of which he probably could not have fathomed. So, let us "laye disdeyne aside,/ And pryde of [our] own skyll:/ And think no shame counsell to take,/ But rather wyth good wyll" join in this newly formed global community of peers to help our patients and enrich each other and ourselves.