The clinic grew out of the university's Mobile Health Initiative, launched in 2020 by the Office of Academic Clinical Affairs to bring optometry, dentistry and primary care to communities around the state in partnership with local organizations. Fourth-year medical students Divya Alley and Kenny Ta kept noticing patients with rashes and lesions that went unaddressed because there was nowhere in the initiative to send them, which pushed them to build out a dermatology-specific arm with faculty from the university's Department of Dermatology, including Robert Dellavalle, Maria Hordinsky, Noah Goldfarb, Shahid Jaffer and Maria Teachout.
The dermatology clinic's first pilot ran at a Minneapolis mosque serving East African refugees. Its most recent stop, held around World Skin Health Day on July 8, 2026, focused on American Indian and Alaska Native communities and was funded in part by a World Skin Health Day grant from the International League of Dermatological Societies, with additional support from CeraVe. Alley said the average driving distance from an Indian Health Service or tribal hospital to a nearby dermatology clinic is 68 miles.
The Minnesota project was one of 15 outreach efforts staged worldwide to mark World Skin Health Day, an annual campaign run jointly by the International League of Dermatological Societies and the International Society of Dermatology to widen access to skin care globally. This year's theme, "Better Knowledge, Better Skin Health," centered on catching disease earlier through education.
On site, the clinic team runs full-body skin exams, fills prescriptions, and handles minor procedures like liquid nitrogen treatment for lesions and warts, treating everything from dry skin and eczema to acne, rosacea and the less common hidradenitis suppurativa. Cases too complex for the mobile setup get referred to Hennepin Healthcare, the clinic's partner for follow-up specialty care.