Women's Dermatologic Society

By Audrey Jacobsen, MD,  Lori Fiessinger, MD Discussion of physician wellness and strategies to prevent burnout is now more important than ever given the additional stressors of COVID-19. It is probably not surprising to members of the WDS that studies have shown women physicians are more likely to experience burnout than male physicians. Creating a culture of wellness in medicine has to start with making changes for our trainees. To this end, our academic dermatology department has created a Wellness Committee. The committee is a collaborative effort between residents and faculty. I’ll let our resident committee leader tell you more about what we are doing and how we started this important initiative below. We hope our ideas can be adopted broadly in the dermatology community. -  Lori Fiessinger, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Special thanks to Michelle Oboite, current peds derm fellow at CHOP; Jennifer Mancuso, current peds derm fellow at UCSD, Dawn Eichenfield, current peds derm fellow at UCSD; Ingrid Polcari, Pediatric Dermatologist, University of Minnesota; and Jessica Sprague, Pediatric Dermatology Attending at UCSD  Why do a pediatric dermatology fellowship? If you want to stay in academics If you want more training in pediatrics If your institution didn’t have a lot of peds derm to begin with If you plan to see a lot of pediatric patients in your practice Pediatric dermatologists are in demand almost everywhere, particularly in academic institutions and large group practices, so it can be very marketable Many peds dermatologists will also see adult patients, you don’t have to do 100% peds Think about when you feel the most happy. If you feel the happiest in Pediatric Dermatology clinic, then maybe this is a career for you! What should I do if I’m interested in a peds derm fellowship? Talk to you...

By Dr. Sanna Ronkainen A. Yasmine Kirkorian, MD is an Associate Professor at George Washington University and is the Interim Chief of Dermatology at Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC. How did you become involved in the WDS and what benefits do you think WDS membership provides for residents/young physicians? I first heard about WDS from an attending in residency, and then later got involved through Dr. Alison Ehrlich when she was chair at GW and invited me to give a talk at a local WDS event. So I’ve been involved through the years, through mentorship from attending and colleagues. WDS has invaluable resources such as educational programming locally as well as nationally, which enhance the specialty. Additionally, WDS membership provides so many opportunities for residents such as lectures and mentorship scholarships that can be invaluable in establishing a niche and developing mentorship relationships. At what point did you decide that you wanted to do academics versu...