21 Feb Meet Your Caregivers: Dr. Oliver Wisco, DO – Dermatologist
Undergraduate: BS, University of Portland, Portland, Ore.
Medical School: DO, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.
Residency: Dermatology, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas
Fellowship: Mohs Surgery – Mystic Valley Dermatology, Melanoma – Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.
HDH has added dermatology to the list of specialty services offered. Dr. Oliver Wisco, a dermatologist in private practice in Bend, has begun seeing patients one to two days a month in Harney County.
As a dermatologist, Wisco provides comprehensive skin care for patients of all ages. He has advanced training in Mohs Surgery (a procedure used to remove skin cancer in a specialized way that minimizes the amount of tissue removed and decreases scarring) and in caring for patients with melanoma. While he is a skin cancer specialist, he also takes care of patients with the full spectrum of dermatologic conditions.
“I see patients of all ages with all types of skin conditions and will be providing basic procedures such as freezing warts and pre-skin cancers to providing complex surgical procedures for skin cancer and other skin lesions,” Wisco explained.
Wisco has been on the academic clinical staff at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Emory University, and Tulane University and has spent over 20 years serving in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard. He said it was during this time, where he had the opportunity to serve in difficult environments, that he developed a passion for caring for rural and high-risk populations. It was also through this experience that he learned the value of prevention, which is a primary focus of his practice today.
After completing his Mohs Surgery and Melanoma fellowships in Boston, the Air Force assigned him to Chief of Dermatology at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.
“In this position, I developed a passion for serving rural communities,” said Wisco. “Being one of two skin cancer specialists in all of Mississippi at that time, I recognized how significant of an impact I could make on communities that have limited access to specialty care.”
Asked about his decision to see patients at HDH, Wisco cites the culture of care:
“While deployed to the middle east during my time in the Air Force, I came to appreciate the value of being part of a medical team truly dedicated to caring for their patients – a unique type of dedication that I see in the other HDH clinicians,” Wisco said.
In addition to working at HDH, Wisco is in private practice in Bend, and also the Commander of the Oregon Air National Guard’s Mass Casualty Medical Response team that focuses on chemical, nuclear, and biological incidents.
In his spare time, Wisco enjoys spending time with his family, including his wife, a civil engineer and city planner, and his two daughters. For fun, he can be found running or mountain biking somewhere in the Pacific Northwest or watching a superhero movie with his daughters.
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