Jesse and I went to Kenya together, and we finally sat down to talk about it.

He's a dermatology PA and the founder of Skin Made Simple, so this one covers a lot of ground. What a medical mission trip actually involves, what we took away from ours, and how he built a skincare business alongside clinical work.

If you're curious about global health, or about PAs who do more than see patients, start here.

What we talk about:

• What our trip to Kenya was really like
• How mission work changes the way you think about practicing
• Choosing a trip that's actually ethical and useful
• Jesse's path into dermatology
• Building Skin Made Simple while working as a PA
• Where medicine and business overlap for PAs

Resources:

Free application timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

One-on-one pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

For today's episode, we're talking about international healthcare experience with an interview with Jesse from Skin Made Simple.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Okay, guys, we're on episode 23.

If this is your first time here, my name is Savannah Perry and I'm the host of the podcast.

And I'm also a dermatology PA and the creator of the paplatform.com which is a website for pre PA students and other PA students to make sure you can find the information that you need.

So I'm really excited about today's interview and just the topic that we're discussing.

So if you've been following me for a while on Instagram, you would know that about a year ago, I got the opportunity to go on an amazing medical mission trip to Kenya with a group called Passion to Heal, and it's associated with an organization called Me to We.

It was literally the trip of a lifetime and I'm a huge proponent of medical mission trips.

This was my second one.

I've done some other missions that aren't medical based as well, but this was just such an amazing trip.

So.

So I'm excited to kind of reminisce with Jesse about that.

Jesse is a dermatology PA in New York, so we are very different.

Seeing that as I am in Georgia and I would say that our kind of speed of life is a little different, our accents are different, but he is just such a great guy and I am honored to call him my friend and to have gotten the opportunity to meet him and.

And it's funny how small the dermatology and PA worlds are because we ended up being at the same event in Las Vegas in October, and so we got to catch up then too.

So I think you'll really enjoy this.

Jesse is an entrepreneur as well, and I think what he does is so awesome.

He has a skincare line, he helps run his office.

I mean, just does some really interesting things that a lot of times I'll get questions about.

Like, I'm interested in other stuff too, besides medicine.

Should I be a pa?

And I think you should.

I mean, I think there are a lot of options out there to have side stuff going on or to get involved in other aspects of business or whatever it is that you're interested in.

So I hope you learn a lot from him.

And just a quick reminder that CASPA is opening in two and a half short months.

That sounds crazy to me.

I feel like it was just April yesterday.

So if you are applying this year, make sure you gain all your stuff in order.

Go ahead and start working on your Excel sheets.

We have some great ones in the Pre PA Club Facebook group.

If you're not a member there, we have some sheets that some of our members have made that you can actually enter your information in and keep up with it before you get to time to apply and keep up with what schools you're interested in.

I also have some free worksheets that you can download on the PA platform.

And so if you go to the PA platform.com click the Pre PA section up at the top and you should see a little link there for the free worksheet downloads.

So that may help you out as you're getting prepared for this cycle.

And then I do want to remind you that you can use the code [email protected] for a discount on your personal statement.

Editing the personal statement, I've said this before, is what will get you an interview.

And so that's something that you should be working on if you're applying this cycle.

I feel like you should have that ready to go by April 1st.

My PA resource is the best editing company out there.

I work for them, I edit for them.

I believe I'm very good at it, but that's up to you if you agree or not.

But we do edit for content grammar, making sure that you are on the right track and giving the information that you need.

And all of the editors are practicing PAs so you don't have to worry about somebody who doesn't really know what they're doing editing your essay or worry about sending it to someone random on the Internet and they steal it, which is a huge concern of mine.

Maybe no one else is as paranoid as I am, but I do not recommend doing that.

So.

All right, we will jump into today's interview and yeah, I hope you enjoy it.

I just want to thank you, Savannah, for having me on your podcast and tell you a little bit about my journey on how I got to PA school almost 20 years ago.

Oh my gosh.

So yeah, I know.

I've been in a PA for almost 16 years now and started PA school about 20 years ago.

Yeah.

Wow.

So I went to Mercy College for undergrad and at undergrad I was a pre PT student with the OT students, the PA students, and the OM students, which are the Oriental Medicine acupuncture students.

Was there that I kind of transitioned out of and become a pa.

So I met a very interesting doctor.

His name was Dr. Alpha.

Well, and he taught all the undergrad classes for the pre pt, pre ot, pre PA and pre oriental medicine students.

And one day I had come into his class and he would give a recap for about 20 minutes non stop off the top of this head.

His head.

This guy was brilliant.

Four hours he would condense into 20 minutes.

So he was given his recap.

And I remember I chimed in and I rattled off the compliment cascade system.

And he was so impressed that he came up to me and he told me that I was too smart to be a physical therapist.

So he encouraged me to apply for the PA program.

It was short by about 10 credits.

So with his recommendation and taking something called the CLEP exam, which is the examination preparedness class credits.

And I was able to slide in as the youngest student in Mercy College in their PA program.

That's how I got to PA school, which was all on the grace of this undergrad doctor.

His name once again was Dr. Alpha Wall.

He just thought that I shouldn't waste my time with physical therapy.

And I was unimpressed with exploring physical therapy because I had gone on a couple of kind of mock interviews and saw what pts did and I didn't think that that was all too glamorous.

I liked what the physician assistant career had to offer.

So that's how I got to BA school.

Interesting.

I didn't, I mean I'm learning stuff.

I didn't know that you were pre PT and if anyone can't tell, Jesse and I have extremely different accents because I am from Georgia and he is from New York.

Born and raised in New York.

Yes, yes.

So one of the hardest things I think for me was anatomy class.

I mean I would spend countless hours, weekends going to anatomy lecture and doing extra credit just to, just to get out of that class.

And I remember I averaged only a C plus and it brought my average way down from a four point.

I think it was like a 3.9 down to like probation by the second semester.

Yeah.

And I pulled through.

I owe no social life whatsoever during PA school.

That's what got me through PA school was keeping my head down and staying focused and knowing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

So for those that are going through it and think it's too hard, just think about what tomorrow has to offer and you becoming a P.A.

All worth it.

Yeah, I mean I agree mine was organic chemistry that I just no Matter how much I studied or what I did, it was hard.

And by the grace of God, I got a C. And I was honestly surprised by that because I thought I was gonna fail.

So I was appreciative of that C. But, yeah, I mean, I agree with you.

You definitely have to just keep pushing on.

And that's something.

I mean, you know that I help prepa students, which is part of what this podcast is about.

But I think most of the questions, or a lot of questions are about GPA in classes and how do I do well, what do I do if I make a C?

And I mean, one C isn't going to kill your application, but it will kill your confidence a little bit.

Yeah, I think it's buckling down and, you know, it's buckling down and recognizing priority because I think that every.

If you're able to get in, if you're considering PA school, you have to be smart.

I mean, I don't think, you know, there's PAs out there that are not intelligent, say, but the ones that make it through PA school.

Because I remember my class was 23 to start.

By the second semester we were down to 14.

By the third we had 12.

So.

Yikes.

There's definitely a weeding out process during the first semester.

And that's where you need to stay focused.

And I'd study for 24 hours and come back to my dorm.

I had a study partner, I had a accountability partner, a buddy.

She was in PA school.

And I had two titees as well that were older, youngest in the class at 21 in PA school.

And I had two titis and in Spanish, that would be aunts in the program.

And one was a nurse and one was an elderly Hispanic woman that helped me get through the program.

And I would go to their houses and I would study.

So look for an accountability buddy.

I would say, like somebody that's on the same page and not as competitive as PA school is.

You have to pick your friends wisely as well.

I happen to pick the right ones during my class.

But there's always trials and tribulations when you're going through PA school.

And I think the number one thing is to just stay focused.

And staying focused doesn't mean staying in a room for five hours studying.

It means staying in that room for an hour, taking a break for 15 minutes, coming back to it and just drilling the information.

I think one of the mottos was delete and download in PA school.

So I'm sorry, download and delete.

So you would download the information.

And by the time you were done with that four week or six week rotation, you'd delete that information so that you can put in some more information in your brain.

And as long as you know where to reference this information, I think that's the key point, is not knowing everything in the textbook, but knowing where to reference everything in the textbook is key.

Yeah, I mean, I think anyone in medicine needs to realize that you will never know everything.

Like, even both you and I work in derm, and I will never know everything.

My supervising physician will never know everything.

And so.

No, no, absolutely.

Right.

That's not a good goal.

But it is cool.

Like, I mean, I know where things are either online or in my notebooks, or if I go to a conference, I can pull out that specific place where I wrote that specific note and my supervising physician does the same thing.

She'll be like, oh, I remember it's in this book, in this section.

And she can kind of recall, you know, Exactly.

So, you know, moving forward in the advice category, It's, you have to make a decision and you just have to commit.

And once you make that commitment, I think that you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Yeah, I agree.

That's my advice is if you're going to go in, just, you know, put your head down and keep going for it.

Because if you keep reaching, you'll get there, you know.

And, you know, one of the common sayings that we had in our class was this.

These two shall pass.

So telling myself that even through the hard times.

Yeah, I mean, you'll definitely.

It's not going to be easy through PA school, through your, through your didactic year.

It's not going to be easy through your clinical rotations.

You know, you're not going to have the greatest experience.

But I think that that's the cloth that you're being cut from.

You need to understand that not everything will be easy in medicine.

So I think that's why those boundaries are.

There is to challenge us.

Yeah, I mean, you, you learn a lot in PA school.

And I think that's why they require the patient care experience beforehand is so that hopefully you're coming into PA school not naive and having already picked up on some of that.

Yeah.

I think one of the biggest setbacks for me in my first semester of PA school was understanding medical vocabulary, to be honest.

And I remember, you know, I don't know if Tabors is still around, but Tabors was like a medical dictionary.

And I remember I had to Refer to all these medical terms for, like the first six to eight months, I was still looking at the dictionary, just finding out what, you know, methyl hemoglobin is, what all these.

All these book, all these names, and then they finally become familiar and they become.

So brushing up on your medical.

Your medical vocabulary is definitely key to getting into PA school and understanding the literature as well.

Yeah, I completely agree.

Was talk a little bit because we didn't.

I guess we didn't go over this yet.

So you.

Like I said, we're both derm pas.

You're.

That's how we met.

And we'll get into that a little bit more.

But you.

What other areas have you worked in?

I briefly had a. I was waiting on a position coming out of PA school in emergency medicine.

I've practically every job that I've had is because I've known the attending or somebody has known of me, and I've never really formally interviewed any of my positions.

So an attending was waiting to become a director at one of these hospitals where I did emergency medicine.

So for the first six months, I did pediatric medicine.

And I could have.

Couldn't have disliked it anymore, honest.

You know, I.

There's two patients, there's the child, and then there's the parent.

And it's very difficult to explain.

Especially my patient population predominantly is Latino, so I spent most of my day speaking Spanish.

And a common fallacy in the pediatric population, I mean, parent population, is that they think that their child needs a vitamin because they are underweight.

But most of these child's BMI are teetering on obesity, and they're saying that they need something to open their appetite.

So it's hard, you know, just convincing a parent that your child is fine, he's actually overweight and needs to go on a diet.

So, yeah, those were one of the things that I didn't like about pediatrics.

I mean, I know who I am, so I was up for the.

And I specifically wanted to do a level one trauma center.

So when out of pediatrics six months later and I got called on board, I went to a level two trauma center, which.

Which paved my way into a level one.

So I've pretty much worked in every single emergency room in Queens, New York, Elmhurst Hospital, Queens Hospital of New York, Elmhurst Hospital.

And then I even worked in Brooklyn at a hospital that's not there anymore.

So I kind of did six years rotating through different emergency rooms and doing really hardcore emergency medicine with stab wounds, gunshot wounds, and kind of the bad.

The worst stuff.

That you would ever see come through the emergency room.

People hit by trains, people severing fingers off their hands with electric buzz saws, scaffoldings, kind of bad stuff.

And after a while, that takes its toll on you.

Started having nightmares.

My last couple of years out of emergency medicine and there's things that are still.

I can close my eyes and I can still see, you know, certain people in certain instances.

Just for example, I Remember was about 13, 14 years ago where I was called, my team was called to the pediatric emergency room side from the adult side.

And we were doing cpr.

Cpr.

It was advanced als.

It was advanced life support for this child that was 8 years old.

And she ended up dying because the pediatric attending sent the child home without a CAT scan.

At eight years old, the child had had a seizure and actually was from a mass and the child had a midline shift.

So I can still see the patient, you know, the blown out pupils in that child's eyes.

And so, you know, as a pa, you carry emotional scars.

And that was just one of many things that pushed me out of emergency medicine.

Yeah.

So I transitioned out, I'm now a whole decade into dermatology and it's the only place that I'll be.

I have really good hours and I have a really good position at my group.

I'm currently the director of clinical operations.

I shouldn't say Westchester.

I'm sorry.

It's West Durham Center.

And it's a group that I helped rebrand over the last two years.

When I came on board, we started with three offices.

We're now up to six.

Six and to expand.

And I've just been bestowed the keys to take our group out of the state of New York and we're gonna actually enter Florida.

So.

Cool.

Closer to me.

Yeah, closer to you.

Hopefully we can see each other a little bit more often.

Yeah.

So you're doing some administrative stuff as well as clinical stuff?

Yeah, I do a lot of administrative entrepreneurial stuff with my group.

Right now I am four days clinical and one day administrative.

And it looks like I'll be.

By the middle of the year, I'll be three days clinical, two days administrative because I'm more effective at actually outside the room, at making money than I am inside the room.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So like I said, we've grown from three to six in two years in terms of offices and we're continuing to expand.

My next horizon is actually Florida because I have rainloads and I don't like the cold.

So I'LL be in Florida.

So that's actually a question.

So a question I get a lot is like, okay, I want to be a pa, but I have these other interests as well.

How do those things go together?

And so that's where, I mean, for me, having my website and the blog has kind of fulfilled that part of me that maybe wants to do something besides just being in the clinic.

How is that something you thought you would always do or you've always kind of had, I guess, an entrepreneurial spirit or that kind of fell in your lap?

Yeah, I can't say I've always been an entrepreneur.

I would say from a young age.

And I've had actually four different businesses before been during my time span while I've been a pa actually.

So I've owned a clothing company, I've owned a cation company.

I've also owned a media company.

And my last one that I'm still currently with is skincare line.

Yeah, I wouldn't even know how to get started with something like that.

I've always been intrigued with skincare, you know, and I wanted to make something simple for, you know, the everyday person without being too complicated.

So that's how I formed Skin Made simple, you know, and the.

The lotus itself, you know, represents clarity, it represents beauty, it represents serenity.

So everything that I would want to encompass in a skincare line is represented by that lotus.

So I incurred a lot more fees, I would say, and overhead costs in the production of these lines because they weren't able to manufacture to my specification.

So I had to outsource and get basically bring in another middleman to complete the feel and design of brand because I wanted the colors weren't right or the jars weren't right, or the lids weren't right, or there's so many balls into the skincare business that it's taken me forever to actually launch.

But now tailing out of six office spaces through West Durham center, and now I've cut down kind of disclosing what my bottom line was for glycolic acid pads.

When I first started to develop them, they were costing me anywhere between 18 to $19.

Office.

We were selling for 50 so I was barely making double the profit of what I put in.

Now I've streamlined that over two years and cut out all the middlemen and I'm down to making for anywhere between four to five dollars.

Yeah.

So it's, it's, it's all about consistency and looking for the right avenue.

So.

And now we.

I have four different products.

I have a moisturizer, I have a vitamin C, I have glycolic acid pads, and I also have a retinol and my vitamin.

I'm sorry, my glycolic acid pads will actually be back in stock, I would say, within a month.

Other thing.

Yeah.

I don't know how you do all that.

It took me two years to finally bring it to market.

But here's the bad news.

I have to find a new distributor to make my.

That company went under.

So the company that was manufacturing my is no longer in existence.

So even though I have the rights to the technology, it just doesn't exist anymore.

I can't purchase it anymore.

I'm kind of in a rebranding phase and that's why you haven't seen me post a lot of Skin Made Simple.

Yeah.

Stuff because I'm, I'm basically at the tail end of this product line of what I have in inventory.

And then I have to create a whole new skincare line, which is great because I find that's the most interesting part, to be honest, is sourcing and finding the materials and who I'm going to work with and moving more towards a paraben free line and more to make it more of a clean line.

But also it needs to have the technology, the product has to work.

Yeah.

Which is crazy.

Yeah.

So that's kind of how Skin Made simple came about in a nutshell.

I've had the platform to do it.

I've also partnered with my group, so they're investors as well.

So it's not just me doing it.

And that's what I would say to other entrepreneurial PAs if they're looking to do something like this, to be honest, because there's plenty of us around the country that are doing this.

It's not just myself.

I just, I was just in California for an Otezla speaker program for Celgene doing organic.

Their own organic skincare line that they're making at home.

So there's plenty of us that are out there.

And I think that these entrepreneurial PAs, you have to put yourself out there and you have to be willing to go to these conferences, you have to be willing to go to these dinners.

Before I became what's called a kol, which is a key opinion leader in the space of dermatology, I was just like everybody else.

I was just going into the dinners, but I showed interest in the dinners.

And you need to learn how to maneuver through the channels.

And what I mean by that is find out who first make a relationship with your local representative, district manager is, and then from there, district manager, see who their national sales manager is.

See, find out who the product manager is.

Find out who the MSL is, which is the medical science liaison.

All these people will help you become a speaker if you have an interest in the product and you have experience with the product.

And experience means that you write for the product.

I tell you that there's PAs that believe that they can be speakers, but they only write per month.

And that's not what's considered experience with the product.

No pharma company will.

So my suggestion for those that want to become speakers and want to become key opinion leaders in the space of dermatology is to pick a product that you truly like and you believe that truly works and write it and have the experience with it, and then go back to your rep and have the conversation with the district manager and tell them that you're interested in becoming a speaker.

Because if you don't ask, nobody's going to nominate you to become a speaker.

Yeah, at this point, I'm getting nominated because of my tenor in dermatology.

I've been in the space for 10 years, and I've been a speaker for 10 years, so I speak for multiple different companies.

But I'm transitioning now out of general dermatology, and I'm moving towards cosmetic dermatology.

And that's where I see myself spending the rest of my career, as in admin, to be honest.

So I see myself only doing maybe two to three days of cosmetics and going around the country and hopefully opening up these offices.

Cool.

Well, I think, I mean, what it comes down to is there's opportunities out there, but you also have to make your own opportunities.

And I feel like most people who go into the PA profession tend to be kind of go getters.

We'll talk about our trip in a second.

But I know, like, some of the people on our trip, like other PAs were into, like, real estate and doing other things, you know, and it was really interesting to, to just.

I like hearing what other PAs are doing, and I think that gives people who want to be pas hope that you can still pursue your other passions.

And your does it like things that you are interested in and you should like, you shouldn't only want to be a PA and only do that.

I think that being a PA has defined my medical career, but it hasn't defined the person who I am.

Right.

Person.

The fir.

I'm sorry, not the first person.

The first thing you see on.

Because everybody's on Instagram, the first thing you see on my profile is an entrepreneur.

Before.

Before I'm a pa, I have an entrepreneurial mindset.

And also now I have more of a humanitarian mindset as well.

And we're gonna get into that in a second.

But back is beautiful.

And I think that if you're lucky enough to become a pa, you should also give back to your community in some way.

Yeah, I agree.

Well, let's talk about our trip.

So I met Jesse.

I don't even.

Gosh, I'm trying to think of when I actually first met you because I got into.

So I went on a trip last year and you can see pictures on my website, pictures on my Instagram with a group called Passion to Heal, which is associated with the Me to We Foundation.

And basically it was a dermatology based trip to Kenya.

I kind of applied on a whim.

My family and friends were a little iffy about this, like, oh, you're gonna go on this trip to Africa where you know, no one.

And I was like, yeah, let's do it.

So I got an email and really, I didn't.

I don't know how much heads up you had, but I did not really get much heads up.

I thought I was gonna be going in March, and then they were.

They asked me to go in January, so I said sure.

And so I didn't get into the Kenyan airport after a 24 hour flight until about 1am yeah, it was crazy.

But then we all met and Jesse was there as well.

And it was a mixture of dermatologists, dermatology residents, derm PAs, dermatology medical assistants.

And how many of us were there?

12.

11.

12.

There were 12 of us.

12 Of us.

Okay.

And yeah, so it was awesome.

So we six pa.

I remember six pas.

Yeah, there were a lot of pas, but we got to do all kinds of things.

I mean, we got to do some immersion stuff in the community, which was really cool.

We got to go set up a clinic at their hospital, which is called Baraka Hospital.

And I mean, it was awesome.

So me and Jesse worked together two days and we can talk about that.

And one of those days was in the Pharmacy, which we did a complete overhaul.

Apparently.

We are both OCD organizers.

I'll put pictures on the website of me and Jesse in our pharmacy.

Yes.

And that was awesome.

That was such a fun time.

I was very carefree that evening.

I remember it was early afternoon.

Not evening.

It was early afternoon.

And I think I had left you in the pharmacy, and I was just kind of roaming around on the grounds, checking out what the other providers were doing in their rooms and who they were seeing.

I think you had come up to me and said, hey, you need to see this patient.

Okay.

So that was different.

That was when we were.

You and I were seeing patients, so.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah.

So we did a pharmacy day, and then we were together again.

They kind of rotated us through site.

So one day we're in the pharmacy.

Some days you're like, in the lab.

Some days you were just kind of helping, like, triage patients.

So then I guess it was the next day or one of the days.

We had our own little exam room.

Yeah.

Our own little clinic.

Our own little clinic.

And we were seeing patients.

And I think one thing, I had been on some medical mission trips, and I don't think many of the people on our trip had.

So I don't know what surprised you about the trip, but I think what surprised some people was that even though this was technically a dermatology trip, we were not just seeing dermatology stuff.

People would come in with anything.

Honestly, I mean, it was a free for all.

It was.

Yeah.

I think I was the only one who brought a stethoscope.

It was an hour flight from.

From Nairobi.

I remember.

Yo.

So we weren't.

I mean, we were in the stick.

This was just a clinic.

Like, yes, some people had derm specific stuff, but more than that, I mean, it was just people who wanted care and wanted to see people.

And so, yeah, I think I was the only one on our trip who brought my own stethoscope, thankfully.

Yeah, luckily there were some there too.

But just knowing that we probably wouldn't only be seeing Durham because I don't use a stethoscope in my normal day job.

But yeah, me and Jesse were together and we had a pretty crazy case.

I'll let him kind of tell you about it because it was definitely exciting.

Scary.

I don't know the right word.

I think it was a mixture of both.

I mean, going on this trip, I just thought I was doing dermatology.

So, yeah, surprise.

In my mind, I had parked my emergency medicine career over a decade ago.

I didn't think that I would be doing any of that.

So I believe you call me.

I was out in the.

In the middle because of the clinic and I was just hanging out and he said somebody needed me.

And I said, why does somebody need me?

It's just dermatology.

I was in over my head a little bit with this one.

Savannah knew that I had a little bit of an emergency medicine background.

And we had brought.

I remember the patient walking in and I saw that she was very uncomfortable guarding her abdomen.

Very stoic about the pain.

Yeah.

Despite even having a translator there.

I remember it was very difficult to get the information from this patient come in.

She was about a 45 year old African woman and she had had a CAT scan four months prior to her showing up to our clinic on that day.

And nobody knew exactly what she had, but we knew that they advised her to have surgery.

I believe that's how it went.

So I lay the lady down and I can do an examination.

She has no bowel sounds through the stethoscope.

Abdomen, she has guarding with rebound and her belly is distended.

Her abdomen's distended.

And so immediately in my mind I said, this lady has a surgical abdomen.

And I actually, out of all things, they actually did have an ultrasound.

Yeah, we found the ultrasound ultrasound machine.

Being trained in the emergency room.

I was also trained on what is called a FAST exam in the emergency room.

And what a FAST exam does, it assesses for quadrants to see if there is a hemoperitoneum, a pericardial effusion.

On this, I was able to see that there was bowels that were collapsed.

Actually so confident in my diagnosis that she had a small bowel obstruction.

After the ultrasound, Savannah and I wrote up a plan for this lady, had her transferred out through the ambulance, which was actually a Land Rover.

So that was, I believe it was.

And we sent her for surgery.

And Savannah and I most likely saved this lady's life.

So that was a very, very humbling experience.

Reminded me why I was a PA and it showed me why I shouldn't forsake the skills that I've learned and not take them for granted.

So I was completely humbled by the experience.

I was Savannah helping me.

And truth be told, nobody else in the group had the capabilities to diagnose this patient and send him out.

So I believe that God had put me there to save this lady's life.

So that was probably one of the best experiences that I'll ever remember in.

Kenya, besides the food Right.

I'll never forget.

Well, the food was amazing.

But actually, you see, Savannah's tent was not the party tent.

It was not.

I had my own tent and I loved it.

Yeah.

But the party tent was usually.

And I remember bribing the bartender so that we could get some extra Moscow mules for the night.

So that was probably one of my favorite parts of the night too, because he had come over, left the meal rec hall, brought us half a bottle of Smirnoff and some ginger beer so that we could have Moscow mules throughout the night.

And it was myself, Dr. Winkelman, Richard Winkelman, and a couple of other people that were on the trip.

But I've had amazing time while I was there.

And, you know, I've kept in touch with most of the people that I was there with.

So I think it's a life changing experience.

And if anybody has the time to go, go, because it's really a life changing experience.

But not only that, even after that, you should take a few days, I mean, a week off and, you know, do go on the safari, which I think.

How many of us did the safari?

I didn't do the safari.

I don't know, maybe half.

I think it was nine of us that did the safari.

But that was an amazing experience as well.

Yeah, it was.

I mean, just the trip in general is awesome.

I mean.

Okay, just to clarify, this type of mission trip might be.

How's the best way.

We were treated very well on this mission trip.

The other ones I've been on have been a little bit more like a summer camp, which was fun.

I mean, don't get me wrong.

But this one, I mean, the accommodations were great.

We constantly felt safe.

We had Maasai warriors as our.

Yeah, we had.

We had warriors.

Our tents.

Yeah, it was.

Yeah, it was.

It was a very well orchestrated trip.

And they are taking applications for anyone who works in dermatology or ophthalmology.

They started eye trips.

Ophthalmology.

They just started.

Yes.

So if you're in PA or ma,.

Whatever you need to level.

If you're a medical assistant.

Yeah.

You know, I would highly encourage you because it's a trip of a lifetime and you don't know when you'll be able to go again, to be honest.

And that was my thing.

I mean, obviously I'm pregnant now and could not go anytime in the near future, but yeah, I mean, that's what.

When I got the acceptance and they asked me to go in January, it really was.

This is a once in a lifetime Thing.

This is the one chance I'm going to get to do this.

I just got to do it.

And I have no regrets.

I mean, I really wasn't that nervous.

But I mean, I would say within the first day or two, it was like we were just one big family and we just kind of did our thing.

We met every morning and we.

I think one of my favorite parts from the trip that I will never forget is a child running alongside of our truck at top speed with no shoes on, smiling and keeping up with them.

And the joy that was on this child's face was enough to brighten up a room.

I mean, you know, you will never get an experience like that again in your life.

And you are in the most rural part of the world.

You will realize how well you have it in the United States.

Trust me.

Yeah.

Another thing, we got to build a school as well.

We got to help and build a school.

And the children in these school are so bright and so motivated to learn, and their drive is amazing as well.

So there's.

There was multiple touching moments that we had.

Yeah,.

Yeah.

I mean, looking back, I mean.

Yeah, it's.

You know, we were there a year ago today.

Oh, my God.

We left.

That's right.

And left January 31st.

It makes a year today.

Yeah.

Talking today.

But we met each other today, last year.

Yeah.

Isn't that crazy?

But no, it was.

I think in general, I love mission trips.

I think for me, they're just a really kind of, like you said, a great reminder of, like, why we do this.

And just that patients are the same no matter where you are.

And it was really cool seeing.

I think the patients in Kenya were interesting because we got to see some cool stuff and some advanced disease.

But, like, I remember one lady who had just.

Just terrible lupus, and she'd had it for a long time.

She was elderly, but to her, all she wanted to know that was that it wasn't cancer.

Yeah, I remember that lady.

And she didn't want to be cured.

She didn't want even to be treated, which we could help some, but not a ton.

And.

Yeah, so just.

And that was her thing.

Like, even to the translator and to us was if it's like, I just want to know that it's not cancer, and if it's not cancer, I'm okay.

And so just those things and being able to kind of give that reassurance was really cool.

And seeing how grateful people were.

People would get dressed up to come see us in clinic.

They advertised we were coming on the radio.

Radio.

We were advertised.

We were a big.

Oh, we brought the rain.

It had not rained.

Yeah, they were so excited for several.

Months, and they were very, very adamant that it had rained almost every single day that we were there and they were in a drought.

Were so happy that we were there and that the rain had come.

Yeah, it was just like we were bringing blessings to them, which they were totally blessing me more, I feel like.

So, Savannah, tell them about carrying the water jug, what the Mamas had to do.

Yeah, that was, I think, one part of this trip that was very well done, especially compared to other trips I've been on, was they did a lot of cultural immersion.

So we got to go to a local market that usually tourists don't go to.

We were the only tourists there.

We got to see the inside of the women there called the Mamas, and we got to see the inside of one of the mama's houses that she had actually paid for herself through kind of the.

The foundation's.

Yeah, she microfinance program.

She was creating honey and she was selling the beads.

Yeah.

And she would do beads and she would.

She had a cow.

And so we got to go in her house and they carry these jugs of water.

There are.

There's also pictures of me doing this, which I did not make it far, and it started raining on us.

Please share those pictures.

Yeah, I'll put some in the.

In the post that goes along with it, but.

Or with the podcast.

But.

Yeah, I mean, just.

They carry these, like, on their heads and I don't even.

I mean, these are some strong women,.

And they would carry this.

They would make this trip with these 25 gallon jugs of water strapped to their head, and they would make this trip and trek about two to three miles back and forth two to three times a day just to bring water home to cook.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, there were things that, mean, it was just so eye opening just how things are different, but I mean, how it doesn't take a lot, honestly, to be happy.

And I think that was, you know, what.

For the poverty level that they had.

There was not a single soul that was not happy.

I remember.

Oh, they were so excited to see us.

Well, one thing I think that came back with me that still I remember is just the hospitality.

Like, I've never felt that type of hospitality in my life from the Kenyan people or like I experienced with the Kenyan people.

I mean, they just were so loving and thankful, but also, like, they just wanted to help you.

Like, I don't think Anyone ever let me carry my own bag.

I mean, it was genuine help.

It was just so genuine that they just really wanted to help us.

And so, yeah, it was like.

I mean, trip of a lifetime is the best way to put it.

But, yeah, I mean, I also came.

Back a better person, I would say.

I came back the different perspectives on how I want to become a humanitarian and how I want to help.

I remember when I came out of PA school 15, 16 years ago, and I wanted to volunteer for Operation Smile, but they didn't take PAs at the time.

And it was very disheartening at the time because they would take nurses.

And I was thinking that my level of training would be sufficient and we weren't just recognized.

So the PA field has come a long way in the last 20 years.

And, yeah, I think that recognized more and more for what we do in the community, and we're filling that unmet need.

Yeah.

And I mean, that's.

Yeah, I think PAs, especially on mission trips and things like that, will continue to kind of find their place.

But if it's something that I think I would definitely recommend.

If you're able to do one, I think you would recommend it.

Yeah, I would highly recommend it.

And I can tell you that I've made friends across the country because of this trip.

I have a friend in California.

I have a friend in Ohio, and through Savannah, I also have a friend in Augusta, Georgia.

And now we've actually seen each other three times.

Actually two times since our trip.

We saw each other in Vegas.

And was it just in Vegas?

Maybe so.

Yeah, I think it was.

But like, the derm world in general is just such a small world, which is really nice.

Yeah, it's a very small community, and everybody kind of knows each other.

So, you know, in closing, if about doing a humanitarian mission and you're already a pa, I would say go for it.

There's downside to going on this trip, you know, even.

Even 24 hours on the plane.

It wasn't that bad.

Will seem like it was nothing once you get there.

And you know how you're filled with just love, like you said, from everybody that's looking to just be genuinely nice to you.

And I feel, especially in New York, we laugh that, you know, nobody's nice.

I mean, hopefully, maybe we can do another.

A reunion trip one day.

Who knows?

Yeah.

Well.

Well, I reapplied.

Let's see if I get to go again.

But if I do, you'll be the.

First to know, Savannah, like I said, I won't be going for a while, but maybe, maybe one day,.

Maybe we could do a five year reunion.

Yeah, that'd be better.

Give me a little time there.

But no, I think we've covered everything I wanted to cover any other tips, advice, stuff for the PA listeners.

Pre PA listeners for the pre PA.

Student hustle as hard as you can because they're only taking the cream of the crop for these PA programs and you need to be as stellar as you can be.

And if you don't have a medical background or the medical vocabulary or even anatomy and physiology, try to know your weaknesses before you get into the program.

And if you know your weaknesses before you get into the program, you can find help with a tutorial, even teach yourself before you get in or also shadow a pa.

I teach for two different programs.

I teach for and I also teach for college as a preceptor.

I've also taught for Cornell University as one of their preceptors.

And we're in talks for speaking, not speaking for precepting for the Harlem PA program.

So I enjoy teaching.

Any student wanted to come and have an internship, set it up with their program coordinator.

And they live in New York.

More than welcome to rotate through our group.

So that's for the pre PA student.

And those PAs that are looking to become entrepreneurs, I would say don't get stuck.

I know tons of PA entrepreneurs, PAs that own their own clinics and the laws govern differently state to state.

In New York City, I'm sorry, New York State, a PA such as myself can't own anything.

I can go across to New Jersey across the state line and I can own 49% of the group.

But in Jersey, I can't fire a laser.

So that sounds kind of boring.

Interesting.

Yeah.

So each state has their own governing laws.

So that's one of the reasons I'm going down to Florida is because I can actually own a portion of the practice.

And like I said, I know of a PA in California that owns his own practice.

I know of an np Joe Gorellick, who throws the best dermatology conference hands down around.

And he's.

This guy's a nurse practitioner.

He's probably one of the biggest entrepreneurs that I know.

There's also a PA out in Florida that I look up to as well.

Her name is Risha Bajomo.

Look her up.

She helps, she helps start up the Florida of dermatology.

Pas.

You know, there's all types of entrepreneurs out there as far as PAs.

It's just a matter of getting us Together.

And the Internet and Instagram itself is helping connect us, I believe.

And more and more of us are realizing that we're not isolated and we do have a bigger voice than we thought that we initially had.

So if you're an entrepreneur, then pursue your dream, but you have to create your own dream.

If you say that you're just going to be the P.A.

That works 60, 70 hours a week, then you're going to be that P.A.

That works 60, 70 hours a week.

That's not me.

That's right.

I can tell you I'm 15 years in, and I don't work more than six to seven hours a day.

And that's most of my colleagues at this point.

A lot of them only do three days a week, you know, so you can create your schedule and you can create your own lifestyle if you choose so.

But if you believe that, then you're just going to be that pa. You're not defined by the title of physician assistant.

I call myself a physician associate.

That's the title that I would prefer to move to.

But don't.

The PA career is amazing, and there's so many opportunities to do much more with your PA career.

I know medical science liaisons for Celgene, which is the makers of Otesla.

I know a PA that was the medical science liaison for Humira.

There's PAs in all facets of medicine.

It's just trying to find your niche.

With that being said, everybody that's trying to get into PA school, the best of luck and PAs.

I'll see you out there.

And keep trailblazing.

Yeah.

And y' all can follow Jesse on Instagram.

I'll link to him, but his Instagram is.

If you want to watch DERM stuff is Skin Made simple, whereas I post a lot of PA stuff and pre PA stuff.

If you want to see some procedures and just really cool derm things, definitely follow him because he does a lot more of that than I do so on his Instagram.

Very procedural and cosmetic.

Awesome.

So.

Thank you once again, Savannah, for their the chance to have this interview.

It was way overdue.

Oh, yeah, I know.

Well, that'll be fun.

Sure.

I will see you soon.

I know.

All right.

Bye, Jesse, once again.

Have a great one.

Bye, Savannah.

All right.

I feel like me and Jesse could chat for a very long time.

Just thinking back on our awesome trip, and I feel like I have a lot to learn from him, which is awesome.

And he's great about giving me tips and introducing me to new products and stuff.

And so I definitely recommend following him on Instagram.

Skinmadesimple.

If you are interested in dermatology, I mean, you'll get to see some really cool stuff, some cosmetic stuff, some medical stuff, and I don't show as much of that just because it's sometimes hard with patients.

But yeah.

So make sure to follow Jesse and then we'll be back next week with a new episode.

If you're not following along on Instagram, I'm on there as well, the PA platform.

Make sure you're in our Facebook group, the Pre PA Club.

All of these links are in the description.

I'm also going to put some, some pictures on the website of me and Jesse and from our trip.

So if you want to see those, they'll be on there and on my Instagram.

But yeah, thanks for joining along.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on itunes.

That helps me to just get some feedback and know that I'm on the right track or if I'm not.

So I would love to hear your thoughts there.

But in the meantime, we'll see you next week.

Have a good weekend.