University of Buffalo’s Dermatology Program Loses Accreditation. Why? We’re Not Sure.

The eight people slated to train at the University of Buffalo’s dermatology program at the Jacobs School of Medicine must now find an alternative residency. Following an annual review and site visit, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has just decided to cancel the program’s accreditation as of June 30. The dermatology department’s academic unit will not be affected.

The Council has yet to release the details on why the program’s accreditation was pulled, but the university’s administration is set to announce the specifics of the decision in the next two months.

A medical school’s programs shut down if they lose accreditation. Schools failing accreditation standards isn’t very common, but when it happens, the situation usually speaks to broader political issues. The University of Missouri School of Medicine and Wayne State University School of Medicine were on the verge of losing their accreditation because neither university was upholding fair diversity policies. 20.7 percent of medical students at Missouri also complained of being humiliated, a striking figure compared with the 9.1 percent of medical students on other U.S. campuses.

This isn’t the first time that University of Buffalo’s dermatology program has been shut down. In 2012, several faculty members unexpectedly left their posts. The next year, the program was revised and was approved by the ACGME. Although there’s no telling if or when the program’s status will change, the University is working with the eight students to place them in other residencies.