Young Physician Spotlight - Dr. Arisa Ortiz, MD

Dr. Arisa Ortiz, MD

Arisa Ortiz, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and director of laser and cosmetic dermatology at UC San Diego Health. She specializes in the latest noninvasive procedures, including laser skin resurfacing, dermal filler and toxin injections, body contouring, skin tightening, and the treatment of scars.

Dr. Ortiz is a frequent speaker at the American Academy of Dermatology, American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, and currently serves as chair of a national aesthetic meeting. She was a guest editor for Journal of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine and serves as a reviewer for Dermatologic Surgery Journal. In addition, she has published over 30 original medical articles and chapters on new innovations in cutaneous laser surgery.

She completed a laser and cosmetic dermatology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Wellman Center for Photomedicine. She acquired additional fellowship training in Mohs micrographic surgery at UC San Diego. She completed her dermatology residency at UC Irvine and the Beckman Laser Institute. Dr. Ortiz earned her medical degree from Albany Medical College in New York and is board-certified in dermatology. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology (FAAD). Dr. Ortiz has received many honors and awards including the 2014 Doctor’s Choice Award in dermatology for La Jolla. (Source)

How did you become involved in the WDS and what benefits do you think WDS membership provides for residents/young physicians?

My first introduction to WDS was through one of my mentors, Dr. Tina Alster. She invited me to the annual luncheon at the AAD. I think that’s probably one of the main benefits of WDS is establishing mentorship, lifelong membership, with women that you can look up to and emulate and go to with any of your questions about your career or about how to balance life with career. I think those relationships that you maintain have been the most significant benefit for me.

At what point did you decide that you wanted to do academics versus private practice? What's the biggest challenge you've faced in academia?

Throughout residency I assumed I would go into private practice, but my career path sort of led me towards academics because I ended up doing multiple fellowships after residency and I felt like academic medicine would help to make use of those fellowships. I also felt like continuing my research interests would be more supported in an academic setting. Also, I had the opportunity to develop the cosmetic practice at UCSD since there really wasn’t one at the time. It was an opportunity to build something from the ground up.

There’s always different hurdles whether you’re in private practice or academics. One of the biggest challenges in academia is just being patient. There’s always a process to getting things approved or adding new procedures. Even sometimes adding a consent can take 6 months to get approved. I think I’ve just learned to be more patient. Change takes longer in academics.

What advice do you have for residents and young physicians who want to become more involved in research?

Start early. It’s nice to build research skills while you have someone guiding you, so starting early while you’re still in training is helpful. This way, when you’re out on your own, you already have that skill set. Regarding research topics, it’s good to always be thinking of what’s missing in your daily practice- what could we be doing better, where could we advance medicine, etc. Also, just being excited and passionate about the research topics you choose.

Who were/are your mentors?

My very first mentor in Dermatology was Dr. Gary Lask. I met him when I was 18 years old, he was my dermatologist. I had gotten the chicken pox later in life and had developed scars on my face. Initially, I thought I wanted to be a pediatrician, but then I was introduced to Dr. Lask because I was seeking out scar revision. I literally chose him out of the yellow pages. It was just kind of serendipitous that I found a great lifelong mentor and he’s still my mentor to this day.

What are you working on now?

My passion right now is trying to find a way to non-invasively treat basal cell carcinoma. I have been doing a lot of 1064 Nd:Yag laser work which I think is very promising but is still very new. I think we need some more long-term data which we are currently working on. Also looking at how to optimize those treatments. I am also looking at nanoparticle-assisted laser therapy for basal cell carcinoma.

What future goals do you have?

In a year from now when I’m technically 5 years out of fellowship, I would like to start a cosmetics fellowship through the ASDS.

Do you have advice to young physicians on achieving work/life balance?

Schedule things in, because if you don’t, you’ll have a tendency to just get wrapped up in work. For example, if you want to exercise more, just dedicate the time to do it and just commit to it and make it part of your routine. I find that if you just dedicate the time then you find a way to fit it in. Regarding time for family, I’m lucky enough to live close to the office so I can go home at lunch to see my daughter. It breaks up the day for me. Also, when I come home from work, I dedicate my attention to my daughter and husband, I don’t talk about work, or check emails. Then when she goes to bed I have time to catch up on work.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time, I like to spend time with my family. We like to go to SeaWorld a lot, the zoo, and we like to go hiking. We have this trail in the back of our house (Rancho Penasquitos) where you can walk to a waterfall. I also just picked up Pilates. My guilty pleasure is shopping!