One on One with SDPA’s New President

Lauren Miller, MPAS, PA-C has assumed the role of president of the Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants Board of Directors. Ms. Miller, a DermPA™ with Dermatology Specialists in Gadsden, AL, will serve a 1-year term leading the 9-member elected board. She intended to apply to medical school, but during a gap year, had the opportunity to shadow a dermatology PA, and that altered her plans. After 14 years in practice, she spoke to Practical Dermatology® magazine about her experience and her leadership role.

What attracted you to dermatology?

Lauren Miller, MPAS, PA-C: My mom’s best friend managed a dermatology practice in Florida, and she offered to let me come down and stay with her for the summer of my gap year. The dermatologist I was supposed to shadow had a health issue, so I ended up following his physician assistant.

Before that time, I had no idea what a PA was; I had never heard of one. I ended up falling in love with dermatology over that summer and the profession itself. I saw what he did and how much respect the patients had for him, the knowledge that he had. He was able to do a majority of the same things that the physician was able to do. I was so impressed by the PA provider/patient relationship. His patients loved him.

At that point, I said, “I think I want to be a PA.” So, I applied to the PA program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and was accepted. I did an elective rotation in dermatology and got a job offer from that dermatologist. I’ve been practicing dermatology for 14 years now.

In light of your experience, what are your thoughts on mentorship?

Ms. Miller: I really feel strongly about that. I have a lot of high school students who are required to do preceptorships when they’re seniors in high school. I get a lot of college students who think they want to do medicine, but are not quite sure. I get PA students wanting to do dermatology. I’ve always welcomed them all in my practice.

I feel it’s important to mentor because often when you get into a job, you find that it’s not quite what you expected both in good and unexpected ways. I want to give students who shadow me the best experience possible and make sure that they see my passion for medicine come through. I try to give them as much knowledge and experience as they can soak up, so that they leave going, “Okay, yes. I want to do this for sure.” Or maybe they think, “She’s doing a lot of charting. She’s taking a lot of this home. The days are non-stop. Some of this stuff I am grossed out by, so I don’t think this is for me.”

My mantra to students and colleagues is, “Leave the ladder down.” When you’ve reached your goal, leave the ladder down and help pull the next person up to meet theirs in whatever way you can. I feel strongly about that.

How did you get involved in SDPA, and what has been a highlight of your experience with the group?

Ms. Miller: One day I was renewing my SDPA membership, and started looking on the website and came across the board of directors. I thought to myself, “How cool would it be to be able to represent derm PAs, to advocate for them, to just be involved on all levels, to really support and advance the profession?” I’m very goal-oriented and I said, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to be on the board one day.” This was about 4 years ago.

At the SDPA conference in 2018, I sought out the president, Jolene Volz, and told her I wanted to get involved. I let her know that I helped start the Alabama Society of Dermatology Professionals and was passionate about leadership. She told me she would keep in touch and she did. The next spring, she called to tell me a board member who was director at large had stepped down with one year left on their term. She asked if I would be interested in coming onto the board of directors. I talked to the incoming president, Gina Mangin, and the board voted and approved me to be appointed to that position in 2019.

After that role, I ran for secretary/treasurer and was elected. The following year I ran for President Electt, and here I am.

Having no prior committee experience or inside knowledge of the organization, I had to learn on the fly, and I’m still learning. I’ve been grateful for past presidents like Jolene, Gina, and Archana, and all the leaders that have mentored and supported me along the way.

The highlight would be twofold. The people that I have met doing this; my mentor and one of my best friends that I have now has come out of becoming involved with the SDPA. Of course, it was a highlight finding out that I got elected president. I just finished our annual leadership summit in San Francisco, and being able to host all of our leaders, committee chairs, and staff and see a goal come to fruition was definitely one of the highlights of my life and career with the SDPA thus far.

What is your philosophy regarding the role and contribution of dermatology PAs to patient care?

Ms. Miller: Specifically within dermatology, I think one of the areas and reasons why PAs are so beneficial is because there’s such a long wait for patients to get into dermatology practices for care. When you think about the Baby Boomer generation and the number of patients that need dermatology care, there are not enough dermatologists to provide that care, especially in rural areas, and provide it in an optimal amount of time.

A dermatology PA is able to help dermatology practices get patients in in a timely fashion to receive the quality care they need. A patient that has a suspicious lesion that ends up being a melanoma that needs to be diagnosed and treated or a condition that’s really affecting their quality of life, whether it be psoriasis or eczema—being able to get them in and get them on treatment so that we can improve their quality of life and improve those health outcomes, that’s really what we’re here for. We’re here to provide quality care to patients that need it when they need it. We want to have a collaborative relationship with dermatologists and practice a team-based approach to making people better, and I think patients are grateful for the role we play.