Dermatology Care Comes to UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union

The UW Medicine Division of Dermatology is excited to announce the expansion of dermatology care to UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union (formerly the UW Neighborhood South Lake Union Clinic).

Primary Care patients will now be able to schedule an on-site, face-to-face appointment with a board-certified dermatologist two days a week at UWPC-SLU, located on the corner of Dexter Avenue N. and Republican Street on UW Medicine’s South Lake Union campus in Seattle, Wash.

Beginning in late January 2022, Dr. Jay Vary, Associate Professor, Director of Clinical Operations for the Division of Dermatology and dermatologist at the UW Medicine Roosevelt Dermatology Center, and Dr. S. Max Vale, Acting Instructor and dermatologist at the Roosevelt Dermatology Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), will serve patients in South Lake Union every Monday and Tuesday.

The expansion of services to primary care will help meet the increased demand for specialty medical services at the clinic, and allow patients to receive dermatology care at a familiar, comfortable location. Increasing face-to-face collaboration between specialty and primary care physicians has also been shown to greatly improve patient outcomes, reduce duplicate assessments and create strong working relationships between both teams of care providers.

“We are expanding to SLU to expand our geographic availability to where people live, as well as to provide more opportunities to hire additional dermatologists,” says Dr. Jay Vary. “Currently, the demand for dermatology is very large and we needed to expand to meet that demand. In addition, this allows us to partner with the primary care physicians so we can educate each other in taking care of our patients.”  

Since expanding services in January, UW dermatologists have already helped reduce the number of patients waiting to receive dermatology care at the South Lake Union clinic and beyond.  

“We are very excited to have Drs. Vary and Vale bring dermatology services to SLU,” says Erin Beckstrom, Clinic Manager for UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union. “Not only does SLU have a high demand within our own patient panel, but UW Primary Care as a whole will be able to utilize this service. With the addition of dermatology to SLU, we were able to start decreasing the backlog of patients waiting for dermatology appointments. We’re also excited about the opportunity for education across primary care and dermatology amongst the provider teams.”

About the UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union

UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union offers a full spectrum of primary care services (including family medicine and integrated behavioral health), obstetrics and gynecology, and sports medicine. Also located within the building, you’ll find designated specialty care from the UWMC Diabetes Institute and the Karalis Johnson Retina Center. Additional services on-site include a pharmacy, laboratory and digital X-ray. 

For more information or to schedule an appointment at UW Medicine Primary Care at South Lake Union, call 206.485.9000 or visit the UW Medicine website.