This article is featured in the May, 2015 edition of “Williamsburg’s Next Door Neighbors” on page 51, available here as PDF. by Greg Lilly, Editor Dr. Donna Corvette practiced internal medicine before she decided to specialize in dermatology. “There is a tremendous overlap between skin and internal medicine,” she explains. “The skin is a window to internal problems of the human body. A dermatologist is trained to look at a person’s skin to determine if the rash is due to autoimmune disease, medications, internal organ dysfunction, cancer, genetic disorders. The list of possibilities is extensive. I’m glad I trained in both internal medicine and dermatology. The extra training allows me to have an understanding of the entire body and enables a ‘root cause/integrative’ approach to medicine versus approaching the skin and the inner workings of the body separately.” Her childhood experiences led to her decision to become a physician and teacher. Dr. Corvette’s father worked for IBM and took the family to different parts of the country. Around the age of six, she and her family settled in Rockville, Maryland. She always had a passion for learning and for teaching. Even at a very young age, she was an entrepreneur. […]
Educational
BY DONNA CORVETTE, M.D. It was 1984, I was an enthusiastic young woman with a passion for healing, learning and an absolute thirst for knowledge. My dream was to become a physician, and I became an internist in 1991 and a dermatologist in 1997. Over the years, I began to notice an increase in the numbers of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, allergies, internal cancers, attention deficit disorders, autoimmune diseases, and Vitamin D deficiency. I questioned this trend and began my search for answers but could not find them in my medical journals or at my medical conferences. At my last dermatology conference, there was a lecture linking Vitamin D deficiency to creating a variety of ills. Silly, I thought; why make Vitamin D deficiency the scapegoat. To me, it had to be the worsening Standard American diet (SAD diet) and our increasing environmental toxins. I pondered how the human body eventually responds to a sedentary lifestyle filled with processed man-made “foods” with dyes, preservatives, plastics, teflon, unhealthy oils, genetically modified food, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, chronic exposures to cell phones, computers and microwaves, overuse of antibiotics, and hormones. I found that there are those who agree that our […]
Have you been to your doctor’s office and wondered, “Just what does a PA do”? In answer to that question, American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA.org) has put together some great information about what PAs can do, their training, and their clinical relationship with Doctors. What is a PA? A physician assistant (PA) is a medical professional who is nationally certified and state-licensed to practice medicine. All PAs are graduates of an accredited PA educational program. PAs are licensed to practice and authorized to prescribe medication in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories with the exception of Puerto Rico. They practice medicine in all settings and specialties. In light of a projected physician shortage—estimated at 90,000 by 2020, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges—America’s more than 95,000 PAs have the training, flexibility and agility to respond immediately to the demands placed on the US healthcare system. Read more at http://www.aapa.org/landingquestion.aspx?id=290 Further details are in this PDF created by the AAPA: The Physician-PA Team – PDF
This article contains some pearls of wisdom I have learned from practicing medicine for half of my life and spending time with thousands of patients. Intuition is Everything: A patient should always believe and trust in their own instincts. Don’t let a provider tell you are fine if you think differently. No one knows your body better than you. Increased Pace of Medicine: The demands on physicians have increased exponentially over the years. So before you visit your doctor, prepare carefully. Create a one-page synopsis listing your medications, medical problems, allergies, hospitalizations and operations. Keep copies of your pathology reports, scans and laboratory results. Most patients assume this to be the responsibility of their physician. Not so, because some of your lab work may be in hospital system A and some in hospital system B. Your provider may only have access to half of your labs or information. Looking Younger: Are you thinking, “buy this laser procedure, add this filler to your face or put more botox in your system?” These procedures can certainly help, but the simple truth is “you are what you eat, drink and inhale” and sunshine destroys the skin. The skin never forgets a tan or […]
Going to see Dr. Corvette was a decision I made that may have just saved my life. I had a dark and purplish spot on my ear that looked funny to me. I went to see my family doctor and she gave me a list of Dermatologists to try to get an appointment with. Lucky for me I chose the right one, Dr. Donna Corvette.