Women's Dermatologic Society

An Interview with Efe Kakpovbia, MD, MSc Interviewed by Brianna Olamiju, MD and Priyanka Kumar, MD

 By Marie Leger, MD, PhD WDS News You Can Use Committee Going to medical school was an honor for me. As products of the American dream, both my sister and I went to graduate school, but the women in my family who came before us, including my mom, my grandmothers, my eight aunts, did not go to college. My mom worked as a legal secretary in San Francisco. When I think of my mom in that era, I think of Joan in Mad Men , fending off advances, clearly brilliant, navigating not just grammar and shorthand, but business decisions, personalities, and her male colleagues. When she worked in San Francisco in the 1960s and ‘70s, her law firm had 25 attorneys, all of them men, and the secretaries were all women. She says, “It was a really big deal the day my friend Pat came to work wearing pants instead of a dress, and all of the other secretaries came running down to our cubicles to observe her.” Medicine has its own version of this story. As I was interviewing for my internal medicine prelimi...

 Young Physicians Spotlight An Interview with Lauren Wizina, MD, FAAD Private Practice, New York City Clinical Assistant Professor, Ronald O.Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine Interviewed by Brianna Olamiju, MD, Amaris Geisler, MD, and Bianca Coffel, MD

  By Noelle S. Sherber, M.D., F.A.A.D.  WDS News You Can Use Committee The Women’s Dermatologic Society is celebrating the 35th anniversary of our mentoring program this year! Throughout National Mentoring Month in January I asked WDS members to share the best bits of advice they have received through mentorship, and in sharing them here I hope we can all benefit from this shared wisdom.

curated by the WDS Academic Dermatology Committee

By Cather McKay MD, FAAD  WDS News You Can Use Committee The field of dermatology seems to advance faster each year, with 2025 being no exception! Here are some of the year’s exciting updates.  

by Dr. Marianna Blyumin-Karasik,  WDS News You Can Use Committee As we gather in gratitude this November, we reflect on the profound impact that service to others can have on both patients and physicians. Thanksgiving reminds us not only of the blessings we count in our own lives, but also of the responsibility and privilege we carry to give back to our communities. Our patients face many health challenges throughout their lives, and as dermatologists we can help them meet these challenges with compassion and dignity. Dermatology is not only about treating the skin’s health and aesthetics—it is also about nurturing our patients’ spirits. When we give back, we transform medicine into something more meaningful: an expression of gratitude for the privilege of practicing the art and science of skincare. As dermatologists, we have many opportunities to volunteer, including teaching, mentorship, participating in local skin cancer screenings, sponsoring events for skin cancer educatio...