Scholarly Project Profile: Adina Greene

Meet Adina Greene

Originally from San Jose, California, Adina Greene attended University of California, Berkeley and majored in integrative biology. She started research in a clinical lab at University of California, San Francisco during her undergraduate studies, focusing on aging and memory.

After graduating, Greene took a gap year and worked as a medical assistant at a dermatology office in the Bay Area. Greene has always had a strong interest in medicine, specifically with physiology and connecting with others.

Finishing her gap year, Greene’s passion for general dermatology and treating melanoma developed. In addition to pursuing her other academic passions — including narrative medicine — Greene’s interest in dermatology grew at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix through her scholarly work and community service.

Greene recently matched at HonorHealth’s dermatology residency in Scottsdale. She is excited to stay in Arizona. In her free time, she enjoys playing competitive mahjong, writing poetry and hiking.

About Her Research

What did you think about completing a four-year research project as part of your medical education?

I absolutely loved completing this longitudinal research project! It allowed me to participate in the research more meaningfully from conception to publication — where I was able to have hands-on experiences in literature reviews, data analysis, manuscript writing and presentation.

It provided me with the confidence I needed to pursue other research and allowed me to learn a lot about counseling for skin cancer screenings in the general population. This project inspired a lot of my other work on skin cancer screening in minority populations and recommendations for the general population. I will absolutely be using these skills in residency. 

What did you learn from the research process?

From this project, I learned not only about the research process but also how to think critically about research. As a future physician, it is extremely important to have experience in analyzing data to make clinical decisions and incorporate evidence-based medicine into management plans.

For dermatology specifically, I was exposed to so many different topics from research and learned about how to evaluate clinical trials when discussing medication options for patients. 

How did you choose this specific research focus? And what was the outcome of the research?

After working as a medical assistant in dermatology, I came to medical school eager to jump right into dermatology research. I remember talking to the scholarly project director at that time about finding a dermatology clinical research project as there were none on the provided list. I was specifically interested in skin cancer in vulnerable populations, but I remained open to anything.

The director was extremely helpful in setting up a meeting with Aaron Mangold, MD, at Mayo Clinic Arizona where he shared with me the opportunity to work on a project on cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in the immunosuppressed population. I was extremely excited to join this project that aligned with my academic interests!

From this project, I learned so much about the research process — including how to conduct a literature review, how to analyze large amounts of data and how to critically think about data in the context of medicine. The outcome of this research project was a five-minute oral presentation at the largest dermatology conference, the American Academy of Dermatology, as just a second-year medical student.

The project was later published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Clinical Practice. Additionally, because of my scholarly project, I was able to show initiative for more research opportunities and completed a one-year trainee position with Mayo Clinic’s dermatology program, contributing to my 20 publications in medical school.

Did your research influence your choice of specialty for residency?

Although I came into medical school pretty set on dermatology, my experience in research absolutely helped confirm this was the right field for me. I loved the pattern recognition in dermatology and the meaningful connections you can make as a provider. Research showed me I appreciate the pathophysiology and often complex clinical presentation that, with research, can lead to correct diagnosis and management.

My involvement in research also influenced where I wanted to be for residency. I had the opportunity early-on in my medical school journey to work with Dathan Hamann, MD, Carsten Hamann, MD, PhD, Neil Vigil, MD, and Aditi Chandra, DO, at HonorHealth on numerous case reports and projects. This allowed me to connect with the residency program early-on and showed me how much the program values mentorship and scholarly work.

How do you think this project helped to prepare you for your career in medicine?

As a physician, I think having research experience is invaluable. We make decisions on a day-to-day basis using guidelines and analysis from research. To make the best decisions for our patients, it’s important to have some research background to understand where these clinical guidelines come from and correctly incorporate evidence-based medicine into our management plans.

Moreover, I think having this experience will allow me to better explain to patients where data comes from and what it means. For dermatology specifically, I learned about a lot of different topics and, with case reports, saw that clinical presentations in dermatology don’t always follow the textbook presentation. I am excited to bring my strong research background to my career as a dermatologist.

If there is one piece of advice you could give to incoming medical students about this project, what would it be?

My advice to incoming students is to find a topic you are passionate about for this project because you never know what other doors will open! I would urge students to take initiative and make sure they follow-through on any project they start.