Overview
The Department of Dermatology offers a one-year fellowship in Micrographic Surgery and Dermatology Oncology. Our department offers three fellowship positions each year, and is fully approved by the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) and accredited by the ACGME. The Fellowship is open to dermatologists who are either board-eligible or certified by the American Board of Dermatology.
The goal of this fellowship is to thoroughly train the fellows in Mohs micrographic surgery and reconstruction, excisional surgery, nonsurgical treatments and scar revision techniques. Education in cutaneous oncology includes multidisciplinary management of basal and squamous cell carcinomas as well as rarer tumors such as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, Extramammary Paget's Disease, microcystic adnexal carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma, sebaceous carcinoma and pleomorphic dermal sarcomas, among others.
Allison Vidimos, RPh, MD is the Director of the Micrographic Surgery and Dermatology Oncology Fellowship Program, and Dr. Christine Poblete-Lopez, MD is co-director. Drs. Jon Meine, Jennifer Lucas, Alok Vij and Melissa McEnery-Stonelake are approved surgical faculty. The exposure to several surgical faculty members in different practice locations broadens the scope of the program significantly.
Program Director
Thank you very much for your interest in our MSDO Fellowship Program. I am honored to serve as the fellowship program director and to contribute to your career growth and dermatological surgery skills development. In our program, you will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with each of our gifted and committed surgical faculty members, with varying surgical styles, in different practice locations, broadening your experience significantly. Some of the highlights of our program include:
- We perform over 6,500 Mohs surgery cases annually, being involved in over 90% of the reconstruction, while collaborating with our colleagues in subspecialties such as ENT Facial Plastics, Plastic Surgery, Oculoplastic Surgery, Urology, Gynecology Oncology, Neurosurgery, and others. We have multidisciplinary management of large skin cancers in a unique protocol we call “Tissue Read,” where the patients’ tumor is excised by one of our surgical colleagues, and we process the tissue as we would in Mohs surgery, to ensure 100% complete margin assessment.
- We manage a wide variety of skin cancers, including some of the rarer tumors like pleiomorphic dermal sarcoma, extramammary Paget’s disease, microcystic adnexal carcinoma, among others. Merkel Cell carcinoma is managed in a unique protocol that incorporates coordination with nuclear medicine and plastic surgery for same day sentinel lymph node biopsy.
- Our fellows lead our monthly non-melanoma skin cancer Tumor Board Conference, attended by our colleagues in Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, Dermatopathology, Plastic Surgery, and ENT Facial Plastic Surgery, among others.
- We have a robust conference curriculum, with case-based sessions covering topics like “How would you reconstruct this defect?”, and “How can I do this better?” to lectures from our collaborating colleagues; and Journal Club every other month.
- We have 6 cadaver lab sessions throughout the year where the fellows serve as learners with one of our surgical faculty and teachers with our dermatology residents.
My mantra has always been “to be better tomorrow than I am today,” and as program director and clinician, this defines my teaching, mentorship, and practice style. I have learned from many mistakes and have grown from them, and I will be here for you as you similarly learn and grow from yours throughout your fellowship year. I strive to create a learning environment that establishes a psychologically safe space to learn with a growth mindset, encouraging feedback and maintaining elevated expectations of our team members.
I am grateful to be in our field of dermatology, where we can serve our patients primarily with excellent care, as well as collaborate, innovate, and educate our future colleagues. I am eager to move our field of cutaneous oncology forward together.
It is truly an honor to lead our team of dedicated and engaged surgical faculty in offering our fellows a comprehensive experience in Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology and to be a part of your educational and career growth.
Again, thank you for your interest in our program.
Christine Poblete-Lopez, MD, FAAD, FACMS
Program Director
Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology
Faculty
Christine Poblete-Lopez, MD
Dr. Christine Lopez is currently the Program Director of Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology at Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Dermatology. She completed her medical education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed her residency training in dermatology from the Skin & Cancer Foundation in the Philippines, as well as Cleveland Clinic. She completed a Mohs Micrographic Surgery & Cutaneous Oncology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. After all her training, she stayed on to serve as Associate Program Director and then progressed to serve as Program Director for the Residency Program, a position she held for 12 years. Dr. Lopez also served as Vice Chair for the department for 10 years from 2013 to 2023, where she was primarily responsible for the department’s daily operational activities, growth, and access initiatives, as well as continuous improvement processes, particularly as the department’s Continuous Improvement Officer. In 2022, Dr. Lopez received an AAD Presidential Citation Award for delivering a blended learning program of Dermatologic Surgery to dermatologists in the Philippines. Dr. Poblete-Lopez is board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology in Dermatology and Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.
Outside of work, Dr. Lopez loves to travel and is an avid foodie, and she enjoys these with her husband, Seevee, and their three children, Veto, Samee and Neo.
Allison T. Vidimos, RPh, MD
Allison T. Vidimos RPh, MD received her B.S. in Pharmacy from Purdue University (1981) and her M.D. degree from Indiana University (1985). She completed her dermatology residency and two-year Mohs micrographic surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, where she joined the staff in 1991. She was Program Director for the dermatology residency from 2001-2006. She served as Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Cleveland Clinic 2005-2023 and Vice Chairman of the Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute from 2006-2023. She was appointed Professor of Dermatology, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University in 2011. She served as Program Director of the Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology fellowship from 2013 – 2023.
She was elected to the Board of Directors of the AAD in 2022. She has been a member of the Site and Slide Review, Fellowship Training Committee, Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, Physician Engagement Council (Improving Wisely Initiative), Mohs Foundation Inaugural Committee, and served as President of the American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS) in 2017-2018. Dr. Vidimos received the Frederic Mohs Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. She was appointed to the Board of Directors for the American Board of Dermatology for 2019-2027 and is the Chairman of the board question writing committee for dermatologic surgery.
Dr. Vidimos was appointed as an Expert Physician Consultant for the Committee on Compounding for the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) in 2018, and a voting delegate to the USP Convention in 2019 for the ACMS. She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ohio Dermatological Association (ODA) in 2019-21 and served as President of ODA 2022-2023. She received the Bruce Hubbard Stewart Award for Humanitarianism from Cleveland Clinic GME in 2022. She was appointed to the ACGME Dermatology Residency Review Committee in 2024. She has co-authored 2 textbooks and over 100 peer-reviewed articles. Her clinical practice and research encompass skin cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and patient safety. She has participated in medical mission trips to Honduras for 11 years.
Jon Meine, MD
- Residency: UMDNJ RObert Wood Johnson (1998)
- Fellowship: Cleveland Clinic (2000)
Jennifer Lucas, MD
Dr. Lucas, born and raised in the Cleveland area, did her residency and fellowship training at Cleveland Clinic. She is currently the Dermatology Surgery Section Head and Director of Mohs Surgery, as well as the Vice Chair of Quality & Patient Safety for the Department of Dermatology. Additionally, she is involved in leadership throughout Cleveland Clinic and serves as the Medical Subspecialty Institute Vice Chair.
On the national stage, she serves on the AAD Board of Directors and Executive Committee and is the Immediate Past President of the Women’s Dermatologic Society. She has a passion for education, mentorship, patient care, quality and patient safety, as well as equal access to care and physician burnout. Her research interests include melanoma, NMSC, leadership, and quality and patient safety.
After receiving her Master's in Health Care Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she provides trainees additional understanding in operations, leadership skills and further development.
Her hobbies and outside interests include fitness (Pilates, High Intensity Interval Training, Boxing etc.) and spending time with family, including her daughter Olivia Sophia and miniature schnauzer Macy Mae. Dr. Lucas believes that the work team is like a family and that hard work should be coupled with laughter and fun, which are the best remedy for both patients and the Mohs team.
Mark Biro, MD
Mark Biro, MD received his degree in biology from Cleveland State University in 2013 and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 2018. Following medical school, he completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine & Dermatology (Med-Derm) residency at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center in 2023, prior to completing a Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology (MSDO) fellowship at Cleveland Clinic in 2024. He previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Biro is board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology in both Dermatology and Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery, as well as Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Biro is originally from the Cleveland area, and his clinical focus includes skin cancer and dermatologic surgery.
Melissa McEnery-Stonelake, MD
- Residency: University of Alabama (2018)
- Fellowship: Cleveland Clinic (2019)
Current Fellows
2026 – 2027
Daniel Berrebi, MD
- Residency: Residency at Emory University
Lauren Chen, MD
- Residency: Tulane University
Collin Pieper, MD
- Residency: University of Alabama-Birmingham
2025 – 2026
Michelle Bongiorno, MD
- Residency: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Cheyenne Hornback, MD
- Residency: University of Vermont
Brooke Walterscheid, MD
- Residency: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
2024 – 2025
Micah Belzberg, MD
- Residency: Johns Hopkins
Timothy Orlowski, MD
- Residency: University of Alabama
Justin Thrush, MD
- Residency: Cleveland Clinic Department of Dermatology
2023 – 2024
Mark Biro, MD
- Residency: Medstar Georgetown
Meagan Simpson, MD
- US Army Walter Reed
Kathleen Spitz, MD
- Residency: Emory University
Alumni
| Micah Belzberg, MD | Private Practice |
| Timothy Orlowski, MD | Private Practice, GA |
| Justin Thrush, MD | Private Practice, OH |
| Ashley Antony, MD | Private Practice, NC |
| Paola Barriera Silvestrini, MD | Academic, OH |
| Robert Simmonds, MD | Private Practice, MT |
| Vernon Forester, MD | Private Practice, AL |
| Basia Michalski, MD | Academic, MO |
| Rachel Ward, MD | Private Practice, IN |
| Kasie Adkins, DO | Private Practice, OH |
| Kirsten Dickenson, MD | Private Practice, MI |
| Kiyanna Williams, MD | Private Practice, OH |
| Mary Brady, MD | Private Practice, CO |
| Valerie Shiu, MD | Academic, TX |
| Jason Susong, MD | Private Practice, TN |
| Melissa McEnery Stonelake, MD | Academic, OH |
| Christina Wong, MD | Academic, OH |
| Sean Condon, MD | Private Practice, CA |
| Matthew Clark, MD | Private Practice, CO |
| Eric Wilkerson, MD | |
| Melanie Clark, MD | Academic, WI |
| Jessica Kado, MD | Private Practice, MI |
| Christopher Messana, MD | Private Practice, MI |
| Alok Vij, MD | Academic, OH |
| Charlene Lam, MD | Academic, PA |
| Razieh Soltani, MD | Private Practice, CA |
| Jennifer Bahner, MD | |
| Joseph Doumit, MD | |
| Paul Benedetto, MD | Academic, FL |
Curriculum
Program structure
The fellow spends five days per week in the Mohs Surgery Unit. During this time, he/she initially serves as first assistant, and then quickly attains graded responsibility for primarily treating cases under staff supervision. Each year, approximately 5000 skin cancers are treated with Mohs surgery at our main campus and three satellite Mohs surgery locations. The majority of cases are repaired in our department.
A very collegial relationship has been developed between our department and Facial Plastic Surgery, Oculoplastic Surgery and Plastic Surgery. Thus, the MSDO fellow has an opportunity to spend time with these other services to participate in combined cases with them.
The fellow curriculum occurs 1-2 evenings once a month. Histology review, wound repairs, oculoplastic surgery repairs, radiation oncology, case-based conferences and journal clubs covering topics pertinent to procedural dermatology are covered during these sessions. The fellows also attend and teach in the residents' weekly conferences encompassing a thorough review of dermatologic surgery topics, as well as teach with the staff in six cadaver labs. The Mohs surgery fellows present cases at the monthly multidisciplinary nonmelanoma tumor boards, which are held around our 18-headed microscope in the dermatopathology reading room. Fellows receive funding to attend the annual ACMS meeting.
As outlined in the MSDO Fellowship ACGME requirements, we expect every dermatologic surgery fellow to complete at least one publication during their fellowship, as well as a quality improvement project.
Our fellowship offers a comprehensive experience in micrographic surgery and dermatologic oncology by dedicated and engaged faculty.
Visiting Rotators
Our program accepts 16 visiting rotators from April through October every year, except for the month of July. Per GME requirements, these rotations are one-week (5-day) rotations in length. We start to entertain requests for a rotation in January, as the GME requires a minimum of 10 – 12 weeks (about 3 months) to process these requests.
During this rotation, you will rotate with different surgical faculty, primarily at the Main Campus, with a day or two in one of the satellite locations. These rotations are primarily observational only.
Application Process
Applications are processed through the central application service (CAS) of the San Francisco Match. Submit your application here.
The deadline for submission of the required materials is September 1 of the year prior to the start of the academic year. Interviews will be arranged in the fall for qualified candidates. For this 2020 application cycle, we will be conducting virtual interviews.
Allison Vidimos, RPh, MD
Director of Micrographic Surgery and Dermatology Fellowship
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Ave., A61
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: 216.444.3345
Contact Us
Christine Poblete-Lopez, MD, FAAD, FACMS
Program Director of Micrographic Surgery and Dermatology Fellowship
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Avenue, Desk A60
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: 216.444.4480
Cheryl Williams
Fellowship Coordinator Micrographic Surgery and Dermatology Fellowship
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Avenue, Desk A60
Cleveland, OH 44195
Phone: 216.444.5933
