Young Physician Spotlight: Dr. A. Yasmine Kirkorian

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.

1. 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.
   
   
   
2. 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?
   
   Once I decided to be a full-time pediatric dermatologist, academia was a natural next step. Once I got into academia, I think the biggest challenge has been the fact there is a lot of work outside of work. There is always something else to be working on-- such as teaching, lectures, research, all of which I love as that's what keeps me engaged with the job and what makes me excited to come to work every day. I don’t want young physicians to shy away from academics if they don’t love research or writing papers; there are still tracks such as clinician educator or patient advocacy. Another challenge is that you don't have as much control over personnel your office space, or other logistical things. So if you need to be in control of hiring, firing, and administrative oversight, then academics may be frustrating. On the converse side, if practice management doesn’t interest you, then it can be nice to have this organizational support found in academia. That being said, now that I am chief of our division, I do actively participate in personnel issues and planning the budget. And I'm interested in that because I think running an efficient practice providing excellent service to patients is important.
   
   
   
3. Advice to young physicians regarding leadership?
   
   First and foremost, you have to have a lot of self-awareness. There are plenty of resources available to help you do the work to understand who we are, our biases, and how we deal with others, especially during conflict. You also need to be able to be flexible. Other people are not like you and we need to meet them where they are and collaborate. You really have to like get consensus from the people that work with you as implement things in a way that works for everybody. If people tell you something's not working and you ignore them then long-term, people are going to leave. Doing this efficiently is an important skill- instead of having 1000 meetings without a clear goal, have a meeting with an agenda. Put in action points, actually do the things that needs to be done, and then report back so people know their concerns are taken seriously. It’s also important to be the person that sets the tone and leads by example. So if you set an expectation for your team, you need to be meeting or exceeding those same expectations. Lastly, I think being good at giving feedback and normalizing that process is also crucial. I think in medicine, we don't formally teach these skills. But if you work in any other field that such as financial services, they have very formal sessions where feedback is provided and its objective, and you have to learn to take it and to give it. In medicine, it can be chaotic and inconsistent, so sometimes we just don't tell people anything until the situation is critical, which is not effective. 
   
   For people who don't feel naturally like leaders but are taking on leadership roles in medicine, it’s important to do some extra work. Read books on leadership and try the techniques. Take the classes. There are plenty of resources available, including within home institutions, specialty societies, or even the AAD. The American Academy of Dermatology has an Academic Dermatology Leadership Program, which I participated in and highly recommend.
   
   
   
4. Who were/are your mentors?
   
   I’ve been so lucky to have mentors at every single stage of my dermatology career, starting with the chairman of my residency program, Dr. Babar Rao. When I became interested in pediatric dermatology, he put me in touch with pediatric dermatologist Dr. Helen Shin, and through her, I was encouraged to do a Society for Pediatric Dermatology mentorship with Dr. Kim Morel. From this experience, I went on to do a pediatric dermatology fellowship at Johns Hopkins, where my faculty (Drs. Buddy Cohen, Kate Puttgen and Annie Grossberg) were and remain invaluable mentors with whom I communicate on a weekly, if not daily basis. When I started at Children’s National Hospital, I have received advice and mentorship from leaders in our hospital system, such as our CMO, Dr. Denice Cora-Bramble, as well as leaders of the three residency programs in Washington, DC with whom we work- Drs. Friedman, Okoye, and Petronic-Rosic. Lastly, I’ve had a wonderful mentorship network of my peers- pediatric dermatologists from across the country. From Dr. Kalyani Marathe, who I worked closely with at Children’s to colleagues I’ve met via SPD mentorship groups from across the country, the dermatology community is so open and friendly. I feel so fortunate that in dealing with the challenge of difficult cases, when I don’t know what to do, I have people to reach out to for advice and wisdom. I could not and would not do this job if I didn’t have this incredible network of people!
   
   
   
5. What are you working on now? What future goals do you have?
   
   I just achieved a major goal of mine- which was promotion to associate professor at GW. I am proud of the work I put in to make it to this next level in the six years since I finished fellowship. My future goals are as follows:
   
   
1. Start a pediatric dermatology fellowship for July 2021 in the District of Columbia to increase the number of pediatric dermatology trained physicians to help meet the demand for this important specialty.
   
   
2. Continue to build our research program. I am proud of our recent work showing iPledge pharmacy disparities in DC, and I hope to continue to do research highlighting areas that need work to help level the playing field for all our patients to get the care they need.
   
   
3. A personal goal is to work on integrating work and family life. As someone who loves what I do for work, but also has a young family, I’m still trying to balance taking care of myself, being present for my family, caring for a wonderful panel of complex patients, and excelling in my leadership duties.
   
   
   
6. Do you have advice to young physicians on achieving work/life balance?
   
   This is something I’m actively working on myself. And it's very easy for me to work a lot and it's not easy for me to figure out how to do that in the context of taking care of my children, being a good wife, being healthy, and sleeping enough. I recently read a book called Deep Work, by Cal Newton, who has delved deeply into how to do your work when you're at work, and to do your home when you're at home, to create healthy boundaries and be fully present and intentional about what you’re doing.
   
   
   
7. What do you like to do in your free time?
   
   I love spending time with my kids. I am not a homebody so since quarantine started, we have been exploring the state parks nearby in Maryland and Virginia. I also love reading and was a French Literature major in college, so I’ve been trying to get back into that. Prior to the pandemic, I was hosting dinner parties on Sunday night- nothing fancy, but enough to build a sense of community. The idea is to gather people in an intentional way to be together and so I do think that's something I want to do more. Since the pandemic started, we have been doing zoom calls with my mom's group who are all women in DC who are professionals, but not in medicine. It’s valuable to share our coping strategies, gripes, and triumphs even virtually. I’m trying to invest more time into being introspective about what I want out of life and it turns out that’s mostly the chance to be with other human beings who I love and miss dearly.