Yolanda R. Helfrich, MD

Dr. Yolanda Helfrich is a clinical professor of dermatology and the residency program director of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Michigan Medical School. She serves as Chief of Medical Dermatology and provides medical dermatology services to patients of all ages within in our medical dermatology outpatient clinics.

Dr. Helfrich’s primary clinical focus is on medical dermatology. She has a special interest in rosacea, and has been invited to speak and write nationally about the pathogenesis and treatment of rosacea. She serves on the National Rosacea Society Medical Advisory Board. She also has a clinical specialization in the follow-up and diagnosis of high-risk skin cancer patients and runs a specialty clinic devoted to the care of patients with alopecia (hair loss).

Throughout her career, Dr. Helfrich has had a strong interest in clinical research, and served as the Director of the Program for Clinical Research in Dermatology (PCRiD) in the department for 12 years. She has served as Primary Investigator on over 25 departmental and industry-sponsored clinical trials and research investigations of rosacea, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, lichen planus, and other dermatologic conditions.  She served on the Michigan Medicine Research Board of Directors Clinical Trials Subcommittee, with the key task of helping the institution create a unified clinical research enterprise, and subsequently served as one of the inaugural Medical Directors of the Neurosciences and Sensory Clinical Trials Support Unit. 

Dr. Helfrich embraces her role as an educator, and has served as the Residency Program Director in Dermatology since January 2016.  She has worked hard to optimize the clinical training and educational environment for residents within the program.  She was recently elected to the American Professors of Dermatology Program Directors Steering Committee.  She also serves on the Michigan Medicine Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC). In 2015, she was elected to Michigan Medicine’s League of Educational Excellence, which honors instructional faculty for their extraordinary contributions to teaching and inspiring the next generation of Michigan physicians and scientists.

Dr. Helfrich is a Michigan native. She grew up in Grayling and attended Grayling High School. She graduated with a B.A. in Latin and Ancient History from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She subsequently attended medical school at the University of Michigan Medical School, graduating in 2001. Dr. Helfrich completed her internship in internal medicine and her residency in dermatology at the University of Michigan. She joined the faculty at the University of Michigan Department of Dermatology in 2005.