Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship

The Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited program under the direction of Dr. Xu in the Department of Dermatology. This year-long program offers an exceptional opportunity to learn Mohs micrographic surgery and other dermatologic procedures.

Fellowship Director Dr. Xu completed medical school at Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, China.  Following medical school, she completed her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Indiana University School of Medicine.  Dr. Xu went on to a post-doctoral research fellowship in Adult Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Cancer Center in Boston, followed by a Dermatology residency at The University of Chicago Hospitals.  She came to The University of Wisconsin Department of Dermatology as faculty in 2007 and completed her Mohs Surgery fellowship in 2011. Fellowship trainees can take pride in the fact that they are continuing the enduring legacy of Dr. Frederic Mohs in the birthplace of Mohs Surgery.

About the Program

The Dermatologic/Mohs Surgery Clinic treats over 4000 skin cancers annually with a large number of these cancers being of a challenging nature due to pathology, location and patient needs. Both the fixed and the fresh tissue techniques of Mohs surgery are performed. The Fellow will encounter a wide variety of skin cancers. Surgery is performed on virtually every anatomic region of the body and the Fellow will be exposed to many plastic reconstructive procedures including flaps and grafts.

Restorative dermatologic procedures include scar revision, chemical peels and dermabrasion. There are also a number of cosmetic procedures performed in the clinic. Journal Club, didactic teaching sessions or invited guest conferences are held monthly.

In addition to assisting their mentor, program Fellows will be responsible for reviewing patient histories, physical exams, operating room scheduling, patient follow-ups and on-call rotation. It is expected that the Fellow is proficient with computers, especially with Microsoft Windows and the Word and Power Point applications. In compliance with the American College of Mohs Society (ACMS) rules, each fellow is expected to complete an academic project independently which will result in a publication or presentation at a major professional meeting.

The History of Mohs Training at UW–Madison

Dr. Frederic Mohs began training physicians at the UW Madison—dermatologists, surgeons, and others—in his new surgical technique soon after publishing his first 440 cases in 1941. Over the decades, hundreds (mostly dermatologists) were trained by Dr. Mohs and his students. Until his retirement in 1990, Dr. Mohs spent most of his academic time at UW as a faculty member in the Department of Surgery.

In 1971, the first formal Mohs Fellowship began at UW. In addition to Dr. Mohs, dermatologists Drs. Stephen Snow and Paul Larson trained many Mohs surgeons in this fellowship— including several who became leaders in dermatology. To align with national norms, the Mohs surgery program transferred into the Department of Dermatology in the mid-2000’s before the fellowship was restructured into the Procedural Dermatology Fellowship in 2007. It is now known as the Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship.

We are proud that the first documentary film of Dr. Mohs entitled “History of A Life of Good Luck – The Life& Legacy of Dr. Frederic Mohs” was first premiered at University of Wisconsin–Madison in April 2026, and it is now available to the public via this link “ JDog Productions LLC | Full-Service Video Production.

Primary Contact

Jennifer Hanser
Education Manager
Dept of Dermatology
1 S Park St, 7th Floor
Madison, WI 53715
608-287-2658
jhanser@dermatology.wisc.edu