Announcing Dr. Leera Briceno’s Retirement!
After over three decades of caring for patients and making a lasting impact in dermatology, including co-founding SSDP in 2008, Dr. Leera Briceno is retiring. In this special interview, she shares stories, reflections, and wisdom from her incredible career.
What first inspired you to become a dermatologist?
”I think I’ve always been aware of having a strong visual sense, which is an absolute requirement in dermatology, needless to say. But I went to medical school with a very open mind. I didn’t want to box myself into anything. I think there are some specialties that automatically lend to a strong visual sense, like dermatology and radiology. Even though I went in with an open mind, I think I had the good fortune of having what I like to think of as an epiphany in my second year of medical school.
We had a wonderful lecture by two dermatopathologists who were also dermatologists, and I remember very clearly having a two-hour lecture on gross and microscopic dermatology. I remember sitting in the back of the amphitheater by myself, listening to these two excellent professors talk about skin diseases as they are grossly and as they appear microscopically. I truly had what I call an epiphany or awakening, because it all made perfect sense to me, even though I had had no prior exposure to dermatology. It all felt very familiar to me for reasons I still can’t explain.
By the end of that lecture, I walked out of that amphitheater saying, ‘I am going to be a dermatologist. ’ It was like my mind was made up, and I was prepared mentally to do whatever it took, academically, emotionally, wherever in the country I had to go. I put myself on a path and never had a second thought about it.”
How has dermatology changed since you first started practicing?
“Even before I started practicing dermatology, I remember clearly my dermatology training at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. I had the privilege of being trained by one of the giants in dermatology, Dr. John Kenny.
Anyone who has read the books of dermatology, the early publications, would have recognized his name. He made lots of important contributions to our literature and our field. Dr. Kenny could teach you about all the old school medications, the compounds, the Goeckerman therapy regimen that was used so frequently for treating things like psoriasis. And if he were alive today to experience how the treatment for psoriasis has changed and now come full circle to using biologic drugs that are ever-changing and ever-expanding, he would be amazed.
I feel very honored to have been his student and to see how treatment of a single disease or condition, but now so many others, like eczema and hidradenitis suppurativa, for which there have been no real good treatments in the past, has evolved. We’ve come to a point now where there are medications exploding in the field of immunology for treating these difficult conditions. I think this has been the most remarkable change that I have experienced in my time as a dermatologist.”
What is a piece of advice you would give to aspiring dermatologists?
“I would say be prepared to be more than skin deep with your patients. I think it is very important to go into each visit with each patient, every day, with an open mind. Patients come to us with serious skin conditions, but they also come to us with all of their other issues. To connect with your patients, to learn to listen, to learn to be patient with them, to hear them, and to show them that you care, above and beyond the rash, the spot, the skin cancer, whatever it might be. To connect with your patients on the real, human level is very important in addition to the skin issues.”
What have you valued most about working at SSDP, and what will you miss most?
“Some of the things that I’ve valued the most is the camaraderie with my peers. I feel like such a lucky girl to have had the privilege to work with the people that I have worked with in my career. The last half of my career has been just truly phenomenal. I feel that this is the best place I’ve ever worked, and I will miss my peers.
I will miss my patients. I feel like I’ve gotten to know so many of them on a very human level, knowing whole families, meeting grandchildren and grandparents and everybody in between, and just sharing their lives. You really get to know them on a deeper level than just the doctor-patient relationship over time. That will stay with me forever. I truly feel like I’m walking away with a rich career that felt most fulfilled all along the way, but especially in the past 15-20 years.”
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your patients?
“If I were to pick one thing that I’ve learned from my patients, it’s to listen well. To give them the time of day. To not just come in with my agenda because I know what their chronic illness is. To find a way to show that you care each and every time would lead to a fulfilling experience, for the patient to walk away feeling like they’ve been heard and cared for, so they keep coming back.”
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
“I would say being able to make a difference in the lives of patients who have had potentially life-threatening or serious skin conditions. For people who live with chronic skin disease, severe psoriasis, severe eczema, people who are riddled with skin cancers, people who are troubled with severe acne, teenagers who don’t want to go to school or socialize because of incapacitating, embarrassing acne… To have made a difference and to have had an impact, to have saved some lives by catching early melanomas and things like that. Those experiences for me are the foundation of what are the most fulfilling things for me. I feel like it made a difference in the life of a human being.”
What are you most looking forward to in your retirement?
“There are several things! One of my life goals has always been to become fluent in Spanish. I have a strong Spanish ancestral history, and I think it was unfortunate that Spanish got lost somewhere in the process of generation to generation, not carrying the torch. So I’m committed to it, and I’ve already started my Spanish training on Duolingo, so trabajo con mi tutor de español, and I’m going to do it one way or the other.
I’m also looking forward to being able to dive into my hobbies that I’ve had no time for, including artistic things, like designing and creating things. I’d like to do some more photography, take some art classes, travel the world more, and travel to see more sites in our own country…But most of all, I’m hoping to have some beautiful grandchildren someday soon.”
Please join us in celebrating Dr. Briceno and wishing her the best in this next chapter!
Interviewed by Catarina Barros, Gap Year Team Member
Please contact SSDP to schedule an appointment with any of our physicians.
