I had a great interview with Dr. DiAnna Davis. She is a very successful dermatologist in Dallas, Texas. She has amazing energy, and I am happy to shed some light on who this wonderful woman is and how she contributes to bringing great skincare to all shades of skin.
How Dr. Davis Got Interested In Beauty & Why This Is Her Passion
As a young child, my dad was in medicine, so I always had a curious mind about science and medicine. Plus, a combination of my taking some science classes in high school made me think that I may want to look into going into medicine, particularly in beauty, aesthetics, and dermatology. It was my own experience with acne that really got me interested. I suffered from acne as an adult. And so, while I was in graduate school, living in New Orleans at the time, I saw how it affected my self-esteem and confidence. I didn’t want to go to class sometimes, or I would try different camouflaging techniques until I decided to go and seek out help instead of trying a bunch of different products on the shelves. And this is where I feel a lot of people start.
I went to see a dermatologist, and once we got my acne under control, I just felt like the world of ideas opened on what I wanted to do—to practice medicine and contribute to re-instilling that confidence in my patients and medical condition to feel good about themselves.
Dermatologists Are Not The First Thought
Most of the time, a dermatologist is not the first person people think to go and see. Even for me, with acne, I had tried many over-the-counter products. I tried some of the products that you may see on infomercials. It was a friend of mine when I was in graduate school; she suggested I go see a dermatologist—before that, it hadn’t come to my mind. So, I hear this a lot, even with my patients today.
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Other Areas Of Beauty That Were Of Interest? & How Dr. Davis Narrowed It Down
I didn’t really consider other areas of beauty. Once I decided that I wanted to pursue medicine and attend medical school, dermatology was one field. The other field you can think about when it comes from a beauty perspective would be plastic surgery. And while I do love working with my hands, I don’t always love working in a hospital. So I just had to decide, do I want more of an outpatient setting? Do I want something that’s in the hospital? What kind of hours do I want? Do I want to have weekends free? Different things like that came into play.
I initially thought I would pursue a surgical specialty because I loved working with my hands. Then I had the chance to shadow a dermatologist. That’s when, again, a different experience opened up my world to see that I can still do many procedures with my hands even in dermatology. And I don’t have to be in a hospital with machines and noises, and everything is always going off.
The Journey To Becoming A Board-Certified Dermatologist
It started with going to undergrad. First, I went to Tuskegee University, doing four years of undergrad, majoring in biology. At that point, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure if I still wanted to do medicine, so I decided to do a master’s program at Tulane University. And that was also in biology. From there, you have to take an entrance exam to even get into medical school. I had to take the entrance exam a few times, which is not always easy. I felt like giving up sometimes.
Once I got a score that allowed me to be accepted into medical school, you do four years of medical school. Usually, at about your fourth year, you’ll decide what specialty you want to go into, whether that’s pediatrics, ob-gyn, dermatology, general surgery, what have you. When you’re in your fourth year of medical school, you must apply for a residency, meaning that you will specialize in something as a physician. My dermatology residency was three years plus an intern year that I did immediately after medical school.
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Non-Traditional Path
Many of my classmates and colleagues went directly from undergrad into medical school. I, on the other hand, took an untraditional route. I took a break and went to graduate school for one year, and then I also took time off and explored some of my other passions in between. Then a couple of years later, I decided to go to medical school. Or you can do the traditional path where you will do four years of college, four years of medical school, and then ideally three to four years of specialized training in your residency. So you’re looking at about 12 years total.
And we cannot forget that in between different points of those years, you take different exams to be a physician licensed to practice in the United States. At the end of my dermatology residency, I had to take a board exam where all my training over three years was then tested with the standardized exam. So once you pass that exam, that gives you your board certification. Whenever I talk to my family members or friends about them looking for any kind of physician, whether it’s an ob-gyn, their pediatrician, their dentist, etc. I always say that you want to find someone board certified in their specialty because they have met all of the criteria that qualify them to practice in the United States.
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Nomination Or Just Meeting The Right Criteria
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