Pathways: Why dermatology?

The AAD is collaborating with Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue to expand access to dermatology education, mentorship, and career pathways through Pathways: Inclusivity in Dermatology. Other pages of Pathways explain why broadening access to the specialty is important and how we are working to remove barriers to pursuing a career in dermatology. But there’s one missing ingredient: You.

Why should you get on the path to becoming a dermatologist?

The skin is an incredibly important and complex organ, and skin health has an enormous impact on people’s well-being. Skin conditions can impact our sense of self, seriously hinder our ability to be productive and achieve our goals, and sometimes signal a significant underlying problem.

As a dermatologist, you can have an immediate impact on patients’ lives, restoring their confidence and capabilities. As a dermatologist, you treat patients from infants to the elderly, offering a chance to build a lifelong connection with patients and families.

As a dermatologist, you’ll also get to learn and use a variety of treatments — with new ones developed all the time. Every dermatologist has medical, surgical, and pathology training, and can choose to acquire additional specialty training in any of them. As a result, as a dermatologist you’ll be able to fix what ails many patients right at their appointment. And sometimes you’ll be the person who identifies systemic illnesses before anyone else, because many diseases show their first signs on the skin.

No matter the direction you choose to take, dermatology can offer a career that suits you. Some dermatologists see patients all week long and treat a wide range of diseases, while others see patients intermittently and do research to better understand and develop new treatments for skin, hair, and nails. If you want to become the world’s preeminent expert on a particular condition, the person patients turn to when no one else can help, there’s a path for that, too.

Sound like something that interests you? Get started on the pathway to dermatology today.