Spotlight: AY 2020-21 Co-Chief Residents

2020-2021 co-chief residents Drs. Josiah Hanson and S. Max Vale share reflections of their term as chief residents and their plans for the future. 

Within every residency program are passionate chief residents who support their fellow residents and program staff by in innumerable ways. Among their duties, the chief residents organize educational conferences, assist with new resident recruitment and onboarding, and lead engagement initiatives for the residency program and beyond.

As the 2020-2021 co-chief residents, Drs. Josiah Hanson and S. Max Vale have done all this, and more. Their term as co-chief residents spanned March 2020-March 2021, as new co-chief residents, Drs. Lauren Bonomo, Emily Duffy and Deva Wells began on March 1, 2021.

Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Josiah Hanson is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has developed an interest in dermatopathology throughout residency and has conducted research on PRAME expression in non-pigmented skin cancers. Among many activities as chief resident, he has Chaired the Division Wellness Committee, propelling many initiatives to better connect Division members throughout this trying year. After finishing residency in June, Dr. Hanson will join the faculty at UW Derm before he begins fellowhsip in dermatopathology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2022.

Dr. S. Max Vale is a native of Columbia, Missouri and received his MD from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. Dr. Vale's clinical interests include general medical dermatology for adult and pediatric populations, skin surgery, and cosmetic dermatology, with a special interest in LGBTQ health. As chief resident, Dr. Vale has served on a number of committees as well as worked to revamp aspects of the resident training curriculum. He will be joining The Polyclinic as a general dermatologist after graduating residency in June.

Follow Dr. Vale on social media:  Twitter @MaxValeMD, Instagram @MaxValeMD.

Learn more about our co-chief’s activities and contributions to the Division below:

What are your post-chief residency plans? What are you excited for?

Dr. Josiah Hanson: I look forward to writing silly poems (they hardly deserve that title) about the pets and pet lovers of the Division as well as to continue to support and foster wellness of my friends, colleagues, coworkers, and mentors. I also plan to soak up as much knowledge as possible from my attendings to help me with my own future clinics at Roosevelt and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Lastly, and admittingly with less excitement, I plan to continue cramming information into my head for boards and am working on turning Weedon’s Dermatopathology into Anki cards for ongoing education as a lifelong learner.

Dr. Max Vale: I’m looking forward to finishing up a few small research projects, soaking in a much clinical knowledge as I can before graduation, and enjoying these last moments of residency! After residency, I will be joining The Polyclinic as a general dermatologist, seeing adolescent and adult patients for medical and surgical dermatology and for cosmetics.

What is a project – research, patient care, teaching – you have enjoyed working on during residency?

JH: I am pleased to have finished a paper on PRAME expression in non-pigmented skin cancers with one of my mentors, Dr. Tammie Ferringer at Geisinger in Pennsylvania. I have also found joy in researching and presenting my grand rounds topics, including a history of vitamin A (with a focus on Antarctic mushing and WWII carrot pudding), plant dermatoses (though the Early Netherlandish art was most interesting), and lastly an overview of pigments over the ages (where I pretended to be a spelunker).

MV: As curriculum chief, in collaboration with core teaching faculty, I created a de novo curriculum matrix for our residency program, outlining a three-year longitudinal intentional curriculum of didactic and hands-on experiences for medical dermatology, pediatric dermatology, surgical dermatology, and cosmetics. My hope is that this will (1) ensure our didactics are of appropriate breadth and depth, (2) simplify the scheduling of these activities for future chiefs, and (3) provide robust teaching opportunities for our faculty.

What professional and/or service activities have you enjoyed in residency/chief residency? (e.g. in your division, dept., local/regional/national orgs., etc.)

JH: Being supported by the Division to present at the American Society of Dermatopathology (ASDP)—both in person and virtually—has been a treat. I am deeply grateful for the support of my current mentor, Dr. Michi Shinohara, in pursuing and later receiving the ASDP mentorship award with my future fellowship director at Geisinger.  I regret that I will never have a chance to participate in the dermpath bowl at AAD, but look forward to vicariously experiencing it next year.

MV: Helping with residency recruitment activities this year was a clear highlight for me. It was so great getting to meet energetic and excited medical students who want to become dermatologists. Sharing with them what I have loved about my training at UW Dermatology was pleasantly retrospective and somewhat bookend-ish, as I now approach the last few months of residency.

What is a memorable moment in residency/chief residency and how has it impacted your work?

JH: My favorite moments have been chatting through bandanas and masks with my co-residents at Volunteer park, having over my three classmates for roast beefalo, and the times I have been able to advocate, in my small way, for my colleagues during this last year of change and uncertainty. This motivates me to seek out a career amongst similar upstanding and interesting people to those I’ve spent the last three years with. I could not have asked for a better group of trainees, attendings, and staff.

MV: Being a chief resident during the COVID pandemic was memorable, to say the least. It created innumerable challenges that we had to navigate and overcome. Yet, I was struck by the determination and compassion of our program’s leadership and my co-residents in working together to create what almost felt like a normal year for training. To some degree, is has empowered me to feel that if we can make it through COVID, we can weather anything!

What goals or milestones would you like to see realized in the future? (As they relate to your career or otherwise.)

JH: I am eager to start, and of course even more eager to finish, my fellowship in Dermatopathology at Geisinger. After that I’m hopeful to return to Seattle for the remainder of my career. I look forward to knowing enough to teach others and becoming curious enough to contribute to our specialty’s shared knowledge.

MV: I hope to re-engage with the UW Dermatology residency program as a community faculty member, and I’d love to contribute to the cosmetics training of future residents. I also hope to become involved with Seattle Dermatologic Society, to continue to think about challenging cases, belong to a community of excellent dermatologists, and engage with residents.

What are your interests outside of medicine?

JH: I enjoy cooking and baking nearly every night with my wife, Grace, trolling craigslist for cast iron and copper cookware, and trying to keep with the watering and aphid hunting for my embarrassingly large number of plants. I hope to travel back to Minnesota after the pandemic and spend a week or two canoeing in the Boundary Waters.

MV: Family and friends, cooking (and eating!), making music (I’m looking forward to singing with a professional vocal ensemble this summer—Vox Nova—for their summer concert season).