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By Mary Lupo, MD
 had the privilege of training, both as a medical student and dermatology resident, at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which became one of the thousands of losses here in New Orleans as a result of levee failures after hurricane Katrina in 2005. I say privilege because it was such an amazing facility for a budding physician and perhaps one of the best mentoring environments in the world. Patients in need and young doctors wanting to learn were brought together for mutual benefit. It was here that my love of mentoring began.
The motto of “see one, do one, teach one” was never more true. When I was a resident, I was directly responsible for teaching medical students. I shall never forget the time when I had to correct three young male medical students for missing several points on the physical exam, only to hear the elderly patient chastise them for being “doctors who had to have the nurse tell them what was wrong with her”. What fun that was, seeing their faces as they feared I’d be angry for the demotion and then laughing with them about the irony of the situation.
My love of mentoring continued after residency when I became clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane and began donating my time for the next twenty years to teach the Tulane residents cosmetic procedures. By the time Charity, Tulane, and LSU were inundated, I had been promoted to Clinical Professor of Dermatology just one year earlier. It had been such an honor to follow such icons in dermatology that had walked those same halls. Physicians such as Drs. Vincent Derbes, Henry Jolly, John Yarborough, and of course Dr. Larry Milliken, who as my chief, allowed me to start a cosmetic clinic to learn, then teach, injectables, sclerotherapy, and chemical peels.
My women mentors included three past WDS presidents: Drs. Wesley Galen, Nia Terezakis, and Elizabeth McBurney. My peers included Drs. Patti Farris and Erin Boh, who is now Tulane’s acting Chief of Dermatology. But most of all, I think of those that I taught as residents: Drs. Adrienne Stewart, Naomi Lawrence, Lisa Donofrio, Maggie Parsons, and Lindsey Ackerman, to name just a few. All are proud WDS members and mentors for the next group of dermatologists coming down the road.
Nothing, with the exception of motherhood, has shaped who I am more than my love of mentoring. That is why I consider it such an honor to be president of the Women’s Dermatologic Society. As one of our core missions, the WDS has nurtured hundreds of young women desiring additional knowledge beyond their residency training program. It is truly a professional form of mothering. One-on-one mentoring allows growth of both mentor and mentee and I can think of no more important activity that can strengthen our specialty in general and our WDS contribution specifically.
Through our mentoring program sponsored by Dermik, 337 grants have been given over the past fourteen years. The new Academic Research Grant Program supported by Ortho-Neutrogena is fostering mentoring of young dermatologists interested in learning how to write grant proposals for research and encouraging them to pursue a career in research to advance our specialty. The even newer WDS Medical Student Awareness Program, sponsored by Stiefel, is reaching out to medical students to mentor those at medical schools without dermatology residency training programs so they can be exposed to our specialty. As our WDS numbers grow, and our group becomes more diverse, there may be future opportunities for our mentoring programs to grow as well.
It is said that when the Lord closes a door, he may open a window. The levee flooding caused a disruption to the resident’s program (our cosmetic clinic is still not fully active). Due to loss of clinic space and program downsizing, residents now must come to my office and I see them less frequently, so the contribution to mentoring of the WDS and my activity at the Cosmetic Boot Camp have filled a void for me. It is my hope as president, that my love of mentoring is embraced by every member of WDS, so each one of you can “teach one.” I can assure you that you can give yourself no greater gift than to nurture a new life in dermatology.
Mary Lupo, MD
WDS President
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WDS Leadership Through the Years — Past Presidents
| Current Message from Our President HERE |
Archive of our President's Messages:
- SPRING 2011 (Diane S. Berson, MD)
- WINTER 2010-2011 (Lisa A. Garner, MD)
- FALL 2010 (Lisa A. Garner, MD)
- SPRING 2010 (Lisa A. Garner, MD)
- SPRING 2010 (Wendy E. Roberts, MD)
- WINTER 2009-2010 (Wendy E. Roberts, MD)
- SUMMER 2009 (Wendy E. Roberts, MD)
- MARCH 2009 (Suzanne Connolly, MD)
- JANUARY 2009 (Suzanne Connolly, MD)
- SEPTEMBER 2008 (Suzanne Connolly, MD)
- APRIL 2008 (Suzanne Connolly, MD)
- FEBRUARY 2008 (Mary Lupo, MD)
- NOVEMBER 2007 (Mary Lupo, MD)
- MAY 2007 (Mary Lupo, MD)
- DECEMBER/JANUARY 2007 (Elizabeth McBurney, MD)
- OCTOBER 2006 (Elizabeth McBurney, MD)
- MAY 2006 (Elizabeth McBurney, MD)
- JANUARY 2006 (Jean Bolognia, MD)
- NOVEMBER 2005 (Jean Bolognia, MD)
- JULY 2005 (Jean Bolognia, MD)
- APRIL 2005 (Jean Bolognia, MD)
- DECEMBER/JANUARY 2005 (Sandra J. Read, MD)
- SEPTEMBER 2004 (Sandra J. Read, MD)
- APRIL 2004 (Sandra J. Read, MD)
- DECEMBER/JANUARY 2004 (Marianne Nelson O'Donoghue, MD)
- APRIL 2003 (Marianne Nelson O'Donoghue, MD)
- FEBRUARY 2003 (Lenore S. Kakita, MD)
- SEPTEMBER 2002 (Lenore S. Kakita, MD)
- MAY 2002 (Lenore S. Kakita, MD)
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