Dr. Thomas Rosenfeld was always interested in science as a child, so it’s no surprise that he decided to go into medicine. Before his undergraduate years, he worked in a hospital emergency room to get an idea of what aspect of medicine interested him most. It was during his medical school education that he decided on dermatology. He was on morning rounds, in 3^rd year, at the VCU hospital when a woman was being treated for blood in her lungs caused by a melanoma skin cancer that had spread internally. At that moment, he knew that dermatology was the specialty for him. “I thought it would be great if I could help prevent what that woman went through. By preventing, and treating diseases like skin cancer early, dermatologists can really make a difference.”

Dr. Rosenfeld performs general medical dermatology at Reliant and enjoys seeing patients of all ages. He likes the challenge of recognizing different dermatological problems. “Pattern recognition is fundamental to a visual specialty, like dermatology,” he explains. “I believe listening to the patients, and their concerns, is essential to improve treatment compliance. People are often afraid when they see a new doctor, or think they have cancer, or somehow caused their problem. Reassurance, and education on skin diseases and prevention, is an important part of this process.”

Dr. Rosenfeld encourages his patients to use sunscreen but knows that is does have limitations on protecting people from the damaging effects of the sun. “People need to realize that there are a lot of variables on how protective sunscreen is. For instance, what are the protecting chemicals? How many times a day are you putting it on your skin? Is it water-resistant? What’s the SPF? I encourage people to wear protective clothing in addition to sunscreen as that provides important and reliable protection against the sun.”

When not in the office, Dr. Rosenfeld enjoys hiking, biking, and kayaking. Between visits to his grandchildren, he also takes time for his hobbies including jigsaw puzzles, painting and woodworking.