Mentee: Deborah Paul, MD
Mentor: Sotonye Imadojemu, MD
Harvard/Brigham and Women’s Hospital
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity and support to spend a week gaining exposure to skin of color dermatology and complex medical dermatology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). I spent the week with Dr. Sontonye Imadojemu and her colleagues at the Brigham; Drs. Joseph Merola (Rheumatology-dermatology), Avery LaChance (complex medical dermatology), and William Tsiaris (complex medical dermatology and complex wound healing) exploring these subspecialty clinics.
I spent my week elective rotating through a combination of those subspecialty clinics, in addition to rotating through the inpatient consult service in the afternoons. Some of my most memorable patient encounters from that week was in the skin of color clinics, seeing the impact of racial congruent care for these patients and the ease at which they opened up and shared vulnerable/self-conscious details about their illnesses. I was humbled by one patient who was willing to travel back and forth between states to continue her care to be seen in the skin of color clinic and her expression of gratitude for having a doctor “who sees” her and who has shared experiences.
In the complex medical dermatology clinics, I was able to see a few puzzling medical mysteries that I still think about today. Through those cases, I learned how to push my knowledge to exhaust all clinical resources to provide the most comprehensive care and to also be at ease with the unknown which I will surely face in my career. The most important lesson that I learned from those encounters is that sometimes the goal of management may just be at preserving and maintaining quality of life and shared decision making is perhaps the most critical in those encounters.
In addition to the robust and diverse clinical experience that I received; the mentorship was also significant. It is a relationship that I hope to continue as I define my identity in Dermatology and navigate these early stages of my career. Although short, my experience during the week rotation confirmed the passion that I had for skin color dermatology and gave me some ideas on how I can best incorporate that into my future practice, balancing my medical and surgical dermatology interests. I am forever grateful for this award and to my mentor, Dr. Sotonye Imadojemu for this transformative opportunity.