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A Conversation With Shari Lipner, MD, PhD
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Any views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and/or participants and do not necessarily reflect the views, policy, or position of the Dermatology Learning Network or HMP Global, their employees, and affiliates.
Dr Shari Lipner is an associate professor of clinical dermatology, an associate attending physician, and the director of the nail division at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY. She obtained a BA in chemistry at Dartmouth College and both her MD and PhD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, completing her residency training in dermatology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr Lipner is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology and past chair of the Public Education Committee. She has served on the board of directors for both the Women’s Dermatologic Society and the Council for Nail Disorders. She is past president of the Dermatologic Society of Greater New York and president of the New York State Society of Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery. Dr Lipner is an expert in nail disorders and the primary investigator on multiple nail clinical trials, offering novel alternative treatments to patients who have failed traditional therapies. She is the author of over 500 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters, lectures internationally, and is frequently sought out by the media for her expertise.
Q. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure?
A. I love being an academic dermatologist because it allows me to pursue the ultimate trifecta, or the triple threat as it was dubbed in the 1960s, of becoming the ideal physician, scientist, and teacher. As a nail specialist, patients are often seeing me as the second opinion, or even more, and are extremely grateful that I have taken the time to listen to their concerns, examine them, give them a diagnosis, and devise an action plan for treatment. I also enjoy the process of discovery and the knowledge that the research I do today translates into new drugs and treatment options for patients tomorrow. Finally, I love to teach and mentor, and I take great pride in mentoring medical students, dermatology residents in our department, and visiting dermatology residents. While much has been written about the impossibility of achieving the ultimate trifecta in the world of modern medicine, I think it is the journey and not necessarily the destination that is important.
Q. What is the best piece of advice you have received and from whom?
A. Like every child’s rite of passage, my class in elementary school was assigned to write “What do I want to be when I grow up?” When I asked my father this question, he thought about it and replied, “That is the wrong question. The right question is: Who do you want to be, not what, when you grow up?” It would take me years to understand the distinction he was making. It is easy to understand the difference if you look at my own career path. What am I? I am a dermatologist. Who am I? I am a dermatologist who specializes in nail diseases. The “what” is too vague. The “who” is much more specific. To this day, I still think of “who do I want to be or become” as I continually write the next chapter of my life. I give the same advice to my research fellows and our dermatology residents: Identify specific individuals who you respect and in whose footsteps you would like to follow, try to ascertain how they were able to accomplish what you admire them for, and then strive to follow their path.
Q. Which medical figure in history would you want to have a drink with?
A. I would want to have a drink with Robert Willan, the “father of dermatology,” because he is responsible for morphologically characterizing and cataloguing skin lesions, and I would love to understand his thought processes. I do know that Thomas Bateman, Willan’s pupil and successor, once wrote, “We are unacquainted with the circumstances which originally drew the attention of Dr Willan to the subject of cutaneous diseases.” And so, if I had the chance, I would love to ask Willan just that! This is assuming, of course, that he did drink alcohol since as a renowned Quaker in the late 18th and early 19th century, the Quaker position on alcohol was probably quite strict.
