Women's Dermatologic Society

  WDS Service Spotlight – Behind the Play Safe in the Sun event at the Chicago Triathlon with Mariam Mafee, MD Interviewed by Chiara Rosenbaum, MD The WDS Play Safe in the Sun program enables members to share sun safety education, offer skin checks, and hand out complimentary sunscreen samples to the community. Of the many service events organized this past year, the Play Safe event at the Chicago Triathlon has been attended by members for years. This past August, Dr. Mariam Mafee led the event and had a great volunteer turn out of thirty WDS members, residents, and medical students. They performed over 60 free skin cancer screenings and handed out over 700 sunscreen samples, along with UV detecting bracelets. We wanted to highlight Dr. Mafee and share her experience and insights from being involved in the service event. 1) Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I am a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, and I practice at Rush Medical Group in C...

  TIPP: Women’s Shelter Initiative to Empowering Women Through Dermatology By Stephanie Choi, MS4, and Hanna Englander, MS2; UMass Chan Medical School   Community engagement offers healthcare providers a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact and gain valuable insights into caring for patients from diverse backgrounds and with varied needs. For UMass Chan medical students Stephanie and Hanna, one particularly rewarding opportunity has been the Women’s Dermatologic Society (WDS)’s Transformative and Interconnecting Program Project (TIPP), the women’s shelter initiative.  Through the TIPP program, medical students and dermatologists can organize dermatology educational workshops for participants at women’s shelters. Each event requires involvement of a dermatologist with an active WDS membership; and interested dermatologists and medical students can utilize the toolkit detailed on the TIPP website to acquire WDS support materials. This includes the WDS pre-made...

Service Spotlight: 2024 Volunteer of the Year Award   Dr. Nada Elbuluk has been selected as the Women’s Dermatologic Society’s prestigious Volunteer of the Year for 2024. Dr. Nada Elbuluk is an Associate Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine. She is also the founder of the Skin of Color Center and Pigmentary Disorders Clinic as well as the Director of Dermatology Diversity and Inclusion Program. We had the opportunity to ask Dr. Elbuluk a few questions regarding her success in balancing her prolific professional and personal life while so generously giving back to her community:   1) What first inspired you to become involved in community service and what continues to inspire you? I was first inspired to be involved in community service by my parents. My parents were very involved in giving back to our local community where I grew up as well as to their communities where they grew up overseas. They instilled in my siblings and I the importance of giving back an...

  By Dr. Cather McKay   “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi Most physicians were drawn to medicine by the desire to help others. Volunteer work can fulfill our altruistic need and challenge our clinical skills in settings with limited resources. There are opportunities to give back around the corner or around the world, depending on your interests, goals, and availability.   Local Opportunities Volunteering in your community is often the best place to start. You may wish to partner with an established charity clinic or host an event in conjunction with a larger organization.   Find local free or sliding scale clinics through the National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics . Volunteer work could include treating patients at the charity clinic or seeing referrals in your clinic at no or discounted cost. Alternatively, utilizing programs already in place through the groups below, among ...