Allison Vidimos, MD

Podcast Transcript

Dr. Cara King:

Hello, my name is Dr. Cara King.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

Hi, I'm Dr. Mary Rensel. We are your host for Inspirations and Insights from Cleveland Clinic Women Docs.

Dr. Cara King:

In this podcast, we will share conversations with women doctors from all career stages and practices exploring the highlights and challenges of being a woman in medicine.

Dr. Mary Rensel:

We hope these thought-provoking stories inspire you and provide insight into the unique challenges and accomplishments of remarkable women docs.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Hi, everyone. My name is Hadley Wood. I'm vice chair of the Department of Urology. I'm really, really excited to be here today filling in for Cara King and Mary Rensel, who are your regular hosts of this podcast, Inspirations and Insights. They're off enjoying their summer. I jumped on the chance to take advantage of getting to interview one of my most favorite people at the Cleveland Clinic.

Allison Vidimos is professor and chair in the Department of Dermatology here at the Cleveland Clinic. She has been in that role for now 18 years, almost the entire period of time that I've been an employee here at the Cleveland Clinic. Over that time, I've just become a huge fan girl watching her be a leader and a master clinician, and also someone who's contributed to the culture and the life of the faculty here at the Cleveland Clinic, in particular, the WPSA.

I'm very excited to introduce Allison today. She's professor of dermatology and chair, as mentioned, since 2005. She's also in this section for micrographic surgery, or also known as Mohs surgery in cutaneous oncology here. She's program director of that program's fellowship. She's also a member of the Board of Directors at the American Board of Dermatology and the Ohio Dermatologic Association. She's an expert consultant to the United States Pharmacopia Compounding Committee and has contributed to that effort. We'll hear a little bit about that later. She's also been the lead author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, and she's authored two textbooks.

Without further ado, I really would like to introduce Allison to you today who is coming to us today because she's recently announced that she's going to step down from her role as department chair. Today we'll be talking to her about her next chapter and reflect back a little bit on her career in the Department of Dermatology.

Without further ado, welcome Allison.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Thank you very much, Hadley, for that very kind introduction.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Well, it's just, as I said, I'm a huge fan girl. When I was asked to step in and help out with some of these podcasts, I was very resistant at first, but I wouldn't pass on an opportunity to have a conversation with you about your long career and your thoughts about your time here at the Cleveland Clinic.

My first question to you is you've had a very long career journey here, starting out first as a pharmacist and then making the shift into medicine. Tell me how that journey impacted the doctor you became, and I guess more importantly, the person you became, the parent, the neighbor, the friend.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Thank you very much. I started pharmacy school at Purdue University. It was after I had to back out of going into veterinary medicine because I am very allergic to cats and dogs, but my goal was to be a large animal vet. But when I realized that was not practical to get through the schooling, I changed into pharmacy school, which I very, very much enjoyed.

About halfway through pharmacy school, we had rotations in the hospital where we rounded with the physicians. It became very apparent to me that I really liked what they were doing, how they were interacting with patients and helping them with their medical issues. I was counseling them on medication interactions and changing doses because of liver or kidney insufficiency, but what I really realized is that I want to do what they're doing. About halfway through I looked into the prerequisites for medical school and made the decision that I would finish my pharmacy degree, take my boards, become a pharmacist, and be able to work as a pharmacist to help fund medical school, which is what I did.

At the time I was also on the varsity golf team at Purdue. I enjoyed that very much as well, but I quickly realized with my plans to go to medical school that something had to give because that was a huge time investment. I stepped off of the golf team after a couple years and really concentrated on my studies to get into medical school. I successfully got into Indiana University Medical School and started at the Indianapolis campus.

The nice thing about having the pharmacy job was I, again, had a couple jobs while I was in med school, but I also had the opportunity to give pharmacy law lectures to my medical school class, which was really fun and interesting. Back then, we wrote prescriptions. Now we type them. A lot of my teaching was on how to write a legible prescription, but it was a tremendous bridge for me.

One of the funniest stories was I was working weekend shifts from 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday while I was in med school. I was in the pharmacy in my third year during my pulmonary rotation. My staff in the pulmonary rotation called down to ask a question. When I answered his question, he said, "Man, your voice sounds familiar. Who are you?" I said, I'm Allison Vidimos." He said, "Wait, aren't you my medical student? What are you doing in the pharmacy?" It was just a really great way to interface with my staff and obviously help fund my medical school tuition and expenses and such. It was a really good bridge for me.

I kept my pharmacy license for 25 years and have used it in other ways, specifically with the United States Pharmacopedia, being an expert consultant to them. As a dermatologist, we've done some great work in that arena. Specifically, we are working on getting a drug monograph for in-office buffered lidocaine. We buffer our lidocaine before we do biopsies and procedures so it's less uncomfortable for the patient. The pharmacy can either make up that solution for us or we can make it in the office, and we can very safely make it in the office. We just completed a lot of testing to prove that. We're now submitting all that data to the USP so they can help us write a monograph that will allow us to continue doing this for our convenience and our patient's comfort.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Wow. I just can't imagine how much jockeying there must've been to be on your study group for a pharmacology course in medical school. I think we shared, my mentor in the department of urology here was one of your medical school classmates. He always said that you were like the star medical student in the class.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

No, he was.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I just have to ask actually before we move on, what happened to your golf career?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

When I was house staff president, I would hold golf tournaments for all of the residents and staff. We had some guests come in, my brothers came in and played and we had tournaments and prizes and fundraising and such. I have not played in a while. My hope is that when I do take up the clubs again, that I will forget all my bad habits. But when my husband and I were dating, we did play a lot of golf. My whole family plays golf. My brothers are scratch golfers. My parents were both very good golfers. When I was dating my now husband, my dad said, "So tell me about this guy." I said, "Oh, he's a dentist. He's from Michigan." He said, "Well, does he play golf?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Can you beat him?" I said, "Are you a little too competitive? Yes, I can beat him, but..."

Hadley Wood, MD:

That's awesome.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Yes.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Have you ever had a hole in one?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I have not, but pretty much all my family members have, so I need to get on it.

Hadley Wood, MD:

You definitely do it. It sounds like goal number one after retirement.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Yes.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Gosh, I have so many questions for you. I guess I want to start just with a reflective question about your career here. Your history with this organization has been really long. What I've been so amazed by as I've watched you from afar for these decades is that you've always been a leader who, number one, has been clinically just absolutely respected for your skills and for your clinical acumen.

Number two, as a leader, you have just always remained beloved. I know that through all the hard times of these past 18 years that it has been almost impossible to have your faculty still love you even when you're making hard decisions.

Number three, you always look like you're having so much fun doing it. That's like that's right, that's the secret sauce. I guess my question is, is what skills have you had to nurture to have the staying power you've had over these almost two decades as a leader?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Thank you very much for those kind comments again. I would say that I have learned to be patient, resilient with tough situations. I've always tried to lead by example. When there are major changes in our staffing in our clinics, I say to the staff, "I know this is hard. I agree this is hard, but I'm doing it too." I think that lessens the blow with a lot of the changes that have come down the pike.

I try to lead with humility. I try to lead with humor. Your observation of me looking like I have a good time is legit because I do try to bring joy and humor every day to my practice, to my administrative work because I think it helps people weather changes better if you do have a lighthearted look at things and just say, "This isn't the end of the world. These are changes that we're making for these reasons." Again, being transparent, I think that we build consensus and make significant good change going forward.

I try to be a good mentor. I am an Advanced Peer Coach (in Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Excellence in Coaching and Mentong). I enjoy that work as well. I will say it has been a gift at the clinic to have so many learning opportunities with the leading in medicine, leading in healthcare courses, a lot of the GLLI (Cleveland Clinic Global Leadership and Learning Institute) courses that we have. There are so many resources for people in leadership positions, those seeking leadership positions to make them better leaders. I have taken advantage of those opportunities and again, encourage others to do the same.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I love that, that you're an Advanced Peer Coach. I think probably a lot of people listening to this podcast have taken advantage of that. Can you share an example of an experience you had within your role, either as a mentor or coach or as a mentee that really made you have insight into your own career or life?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I would say looking at some of my younger staff, I see myself at that stage of life. They're having kids and having to juggle work and their home life and such. I feel like I can totally empathize with that even though that part of my life is behind me. Now I'm a grandmother, so it's coming back, but I feel I can relate to them and their issues.

One of my mantras, I should say, is family comes first. If a staff member or a resident or a fellow comes to me with a family issue, I say, "You know what? Family comes first. Yes, you need to go do that. You need to get on that plane. We will cover your practice. We will cover your patients," because in the end, family does come first. We have work family and we have home family. You need to learn to work between the two to keep the staff happy and fulfilled and successful.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Yeah, that's so true. I mean, I think it's sometimes easy to forget when you get so wound up and like, oh, I got to get this done, or I have to meet this metric or whatever, that everybody has something going on after they walk out of the office. I suspect that that's probably one of the main values that you've brought to your leadership that's allowed you to have so much efficacy as a leader and also have such positive connections with your faculty and trainees.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

One of the things I encourage my new staff and trainees to do is to watch the Cleveland Clinic empathy video (Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care) from several years ago. Oh, my goodness. I've watched it several times and I cry every time, but it really makes you think when you step on an elevator and you see somebody with a sad face, something's going on with them and brighten their day, just do a little thing because you have no idea what a difference you can make with just a simple gesture, a, "Hello, how's your day going," just to put yourself in other people's shoes, whether they're patients or colleagues.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Yeah, that's so true. Actually, that elevator moment has stuck with me all these years too. I don't know what it was. It's just like that one scene in the elevator, you're just like, oh yeah, I do that how many times a day where you're looking across at someone and you have no idea what they're bringing with them that day. For sure.

As you look back on your career now, are there any times that you feel could have tilted in a different direction and maybe dramatically changed, like the elevator doors moment? I forgot that movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, but maybe could have changed things entirely for you had they gone a different direction?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

A couple years ago when I did the keynote address for the WPSA (Cleveland Clinic Women’s Professional Staff Association) (annual) meeting, I presented what I called a series of fortunate events instead of unfortunate events like the movie.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Yeah, I remember that.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

There were specific things in my life that could have gone in a totally different direction. The first of which was when I applied to the dermatology residency, back then it was all typed out. There were no computers. There were only two early matched positions or programs that matched you right out of medical school for dermatology. One was Minnesota, one was at the Cleveland Clinic. I did receive an interview at Minnesota, but I never heard from Cleveland Clinic. I called them and said, "Hey, did you get my application? I just need to know my status." They said, "No, we never got it." I retyped the application, climbed in my car on a snowy December day in a snowstorm, my mom came with me, and I physically drove my application from Indianapolis to Cleveland into the T Building and handed it to the education secretary. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here interviewing with you.

Hadley Wood, MD:

That's crazy.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

That was one.

When I was a resident, there was a call from Oberlin Clinic to Phil Bailin (Philip Bailin, MD, MBA, Retired Staff Dermatologist and Chair of the Department of Dermatology (1976-2005) Cleveland Clinic) asking for someone to cover a maternity leave for a dermatologist there. I did do that for three years during her leave and then after. That fateful event was I met my husband at Oberlin Clinic. That was a good choice.

In 2000, the (Cleveland) Clinic used to have an exchange program with Singapore. They sent physicians from the Cleveland Clinic to Singapore for two weeks at a time to teach, to teach lectures, do surgeries and such. I took that job. I didn't want to be gone for all of the two weeks, so I compressed the 13 lectures into eight days and did all the requested surgery teaching. The day I was leaving, the chairman of the National Skin Center said, "Hey, we'd like you to stay a couple extra days because as a thank you, we want to take you touring in Malaysia." I said, "Thank you very much for that offer, but I really need to get home to my kids. They're five and seven. It's Halloween." He didn't know what Halloween was, but I said, "It's Halloween. It's very important. I need to get home to my kids." I went home that day. On Monday, I was at work and my husband called me and he said, "You know that flight they were going to put you on? It crashed."

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh my gosh, really?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Half the people in the business section where I would've been sitting perished, and I thought, "I have a guardian angel." Every Halloween I say, "Thank you, God, that decision was the right one."

Hadley Wood, MD:

Wow.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Yeah. Those were very pivotal moments.

Then last one, of course, was when Phil Bailin was stepping down as chair, I was asked to consider the chairmanship. At the time I was 46, my kids were 10 and 12. My husband had just finished medical school and residency and fellowship. We were just getting in our groove. I just didn't think it was the right time for me. I didn't think I was up to the job yet. I had received a lot of encouragement and mentoring from Wilma Bergfeld and Phil Bailin and others in my department and outside of the department. I'm so glad I took that job when they offered it to me in 2005 because it has been a very good 18 years, obviously with challenges all along. But I think as a professional, it's been probably one of the highlights of my career to be able to lead the department for the last 18 years. I'm very grateful for that opportunity.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I never thought I would hear Alison Vidimos admit to having imposter syndrome. I mean, I guess that's something we all face. The power of just having someone who you respect and admire come to you and say, "I think you'd be great for this job," really resonates with me because I think we all need to think about doing that more for our peers and our mentees and even for people that may be above us. I suspect that you've done that lots of times in your career, is go to people when you know that they don't think they're ready and say, "You're ready."

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Correct, correct. There's a lot of merit and positivity in lifting up others who, like I was in that same situation. I just said, "I'm not ready for this. I don't think I have the tools." I took their counseling and mentoring seriously. I've tried to do the same for others in my department and outside my department. I'm a mentor for the AAD, the American Academy of Dermatology. It's amazing how similar the situations are for people in private practice outside of the clinic as they are for folks I've mentored here.

Hadley Wood, MD:

What do you mean by that? Put some meat on that.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

For example, I was asked to mentor a young Mohs surgeon from St. Louis. She was married to a radiologist, as am I. She said, "I'm just all in on my career and I'm never going to have kids." I said, "Really think about that," because I had my girls while my husband was in medical school. He was a dentist when we got married. Then a year after we got married, he said, "I want to go to medical school." I said, "I don't think that was in the prenups, buddy." But he went back to medical school at the age of 32. We had our girls while he was in med school. I was working full time. We made it happen. My girls and my grandkids are the biggest joy of my life. I really counseled this woman to think about that. Well, lo and behold, she ended up having a son. Whenever I see her at meetings, she still thanks me for counseling her. She said, "My son, Carl, is a light of my life. Thank you for leading me down that path."

Hadley Wood, MD:

Yeah, I remember my own comfort. I had not had any children yet, had not started trying to have children. I was having lunch with one of my attendings who I respected a lot. I know this is not legal now, but he asked me, "Are you going to think about having a family?" I said to him, "Oh, the time is just not right." I just remember so clearly him looking across the table and saying to me, "The time's never going to be right." I just thought like, oh, that's so true. If you wait for that perfect moment in your life when you're working and your spouse is working at this, it will never happen. I went off on vacation the following weekend, found out six weeks later I came home pregnant from that vacation. I guess I did listen to some of the things my attendings told me as a trainee.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I want to turn the subject a little bit to something that's close to my heart, and I know close to your heart, and that's international medical volunteerism. You've been doing it for years. I can't remember. It's been how many years have you been involved with your project in?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I went to Honduras for 11 years. The group I joined had already been going for 11 years. The whole time was a 22-year span where Russ Raymond (Russell E. Raymond, DO, Retired Staff Cardiologist, Cleveland Clinic), who was a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic, led this group of docs and nurses for week-long trips once a year. Halfway through after their 10th year, the dermatologist who used to go with them could not go. He reached out to me and said, "Hey, Allison. I'm involved with this faith-based mission trip to Honduras every year. Do you know any dermatologists who would be interested in participating?" I said, "How about me?"

I went my first year. I could not believe how poor they were and how in need of medical attention these folks were. We, with eight to nine docs, would see up to 500 patients a day. We could do this because there was no Epic. We just had half pages of handwritten notes. We would write down our diagnosis and the medications that they needed from our pharmacy that we set up ourselves. Then they would be off to the pharmacy to the translator who would tell them how to take their medicines.

I had such an amazing experience that first year, I went the next year and I took my oldest daughter. Then the next three years I took my youngest daughter. They were both in high school. I think it really taught them the importance of volunteering and how lucky we are here in the United States to have the medical care that we have. It really helped them with perspectives at the high school level to say, there are just things that aren't important that don't matter.

Hadley Wood, MD:

So true.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I think it really helped them mature. Then after that, I took residents with me. I took either a Mohs surgery fellow or one of my medical derm residents. They also had tremendous experiences. We basically are doing procedures on school desks and using flashlights. There's no path. There's no cultures. There's no X-rays, no radiologic studies, no labs. You basically had to figure out what somebody had just looking at it, which is a tremendous learning experience.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh, yeah. Can you share one story from all your trips there that really you feel helped you become a better doctor or a better person here at home?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

One year, one of the ER docs who was on the trip came to me and she said, "I have a five-year-old girl who's got an abscess in her neck. I don't feel comfortable doing this procedure. Would you do it," because she knew I did derm surgery. I said, "Of course." We, over about an hour, drained this abscess on this little girl's neck. She was crying. Then she'd settle down and we just took our time. I had a translator talking her through it and her mom through it. At the end she said to her mom, "Mommy, thank the doctor for being so kind to me." I just melted. Then I prayed for her for that entire year hoping that she survived it because it was a horrible staph abscess in her neck.

The following year we went to the same town and I looked for her, I said, "I've got to make sure she's still alive. I looked in all the classrooms and I found her. I knew it was her because I could see my little IND site on her neck." I hid because I thought if she saw me she might have some PTSD, but I was so grateful that she survived it because it was a pretty bad infection. We could guess on the antibiotic because we didn't have cultures. That experience alone just made my day.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh, that's such a heartwarming story. It also I think gets to these times that we're called as physicians to sometimes inflict great pain and discomfort or sadness upon our patients. You wonder, is it worth it? Am I putting this patient through more than he or she can tolerate? Are they going to have PTSD for the rest of their lives? To see on the other side, oh, the good parts I think really help bolster up you in those moments where you're just not quite sure if you're doing more benefit than harm.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

For sure. You're absolutely right.

Hadley Wood, MD:

What advice do you have for a young person who's just starting out a career in dermatology or in medicine or surgery?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

As I did, I so benefited from mentors and coaches who really helped me find my way, to find my strengths, to find my balance between work and home life to help decide what to take on and what to not take on. I also really encourage my residents to look at the service end of what we do. I mean, those patients coming in many times are scared. They don't know what they have. They're afraid they have cancer. To just really be empathetic, patient. If you've got a patient who shows up late for their visit, see them, be patient with them because you don't know what they had going on in their day that made them late for the appointment, and be a good listener.

I mean, I feel like I have learned so much from my patients. All of my patients are awake when I operate on them. They know my story. I know theirs. I'm astonished at what patients remember. I had a lady come in a couple months ago who said, "You may not remember this," but I call my Mohs surgery patients at night, and she said, "You called me to check on me that night and I could hear your kids in the background. Your one daughter was fussy, so you let her get on the phone and say hello to me."

Hadley Wood, MD:

I love that story.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Her name was Catherine. I was astonished that she remembered that. Lo and behold, while this lady was waiting for her wound to be repaired, my daughter Catherine, who's now 30, called me up. I walked in with my cell phone and I put it to the patient's ear and I said, "This is my daughter Catherine now 28 years later. She wants to say hi again." It was just really cool.

Hadley Wood, MD:

It's really amazing when you realize that patients are wondering about your life too. It feels much less unidirectional when a patient engages with what's happening outside the office for you.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

When I was on the phone with patients, one time when Catherine walked up, she said, "Mommy, mommy, I need you." I said, "Honey, just a minute. I'm on the phone with a patient." She said, "Can I be a patient?"

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

She reminded me of that MasterCard commercial with the woman who's on the business call and her three little girls are around a beach, and they said, "Can I be a client, mommy?"

Hadley Wood, MD:

That's so true. That's one of the great struggles I think of parents who are working doctors, for sure.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Yes.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I think lot when I think about young people looking for mentors, and I hear a lot from them, "Oh, I just don't know how to find that mentor," or, "I'm really anxious about going and asking that person for mentorship." Going back to that, your advice about finding mentors, what would you say is the secret sauce for finding the mentors you need in that moment of your career and any advice about how to go about that?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

When our new residents and fellows come in, one of the number one questions we get from them is, "Do you have a formal mentorship program?" Ours is what I would call informal, meaning we ask them to look for staff who they think they can relate to. They may not be in the specialty area that they eventually want to go into, but we have folks, I mean, we have a very good open door policy in our department. I think our staff are very approachable. We encourage the fellows and residents to find somebody who might give them guidance on career, but others who might give them guidance on home life issues. You might have a couple different mentors. To just look for somebody you can relate to, who you can openly share things with and who you know will keep your confidentiality and help you find your path.

Hadley Wood, MD:

That's so true. I feel like a lot of, I mean the new age I think of mentoring, for sure. There's a lot more people that are willing to mentor and coach the way that we learn in the program. But I just remember as a young person going to some people and looking for guidance, and I got a lot of just like, "You should do this," and, "This is what I did." it's like, oh, yeah, okay. It can be hard to find that person who really pulls out from you what is the thing that's going to allow you to find joy in your career and in your life.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I think the (Cleveland) Clinic has done a great job with a mentor program, a mentorship program, and a coaching program. There are people there outside of your department who are willing to do that mentoring and coaching for our staff, for our residents and fellows. I really encourage my staff to take advantage of those opportunities.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Yeah, I think sometimes actually I found it really beneficial to me in having mentors that are outside my specialty area because there are times that I'd be like, "Oh, well, I can't do this because of X, Y, or Z." Their perspective is so different. They're like, "Well, that's nuts. We always do it this way." I feel like sometimes it's really easy in your own little world and culture and everything of your department or your whatever to get your head stuck in this thing about impossibilities because nobody else has done that. But certainly having someone who's for whom whatever that choice is, is normalized really feels like pretty liberating as a mentee, for sure.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Exactly. The other thing I tell them is do not be afraid to reinvent yourself because I have been fortunate that my career has gone in different directions for the last 38 years. I used to do a lot of laser surgery and cosmetic work. Now I am 100% oncology. I used to do 100% of our pediatric laser procedures for kids with port-wine stains and other dermatologic issues. Now I've got pediatric dermatologists who do that. But I am grateful that I had those opportunities and push the envelope in different areas of our specialty. I tell that to our residents as well. Do not be afraid to change course.

In my family, my husband who used to be a dentist who's now a neuroradiologist, I used to be a pharmacist and I'm now a dermatologist, we call ourselves retreads like a tire retread. I tell my girls the same thing, "If you want to change course, do it." I mean, you've got to be happy doing what you love. Sometimes that's going to change as it goes. My youngest daughter is an engineer. She works for Eli Lilly in Indianapolis. She's toyed with going back to school to be a physical therapist. I mean, I said, "Honey, it's okay to change course. Go where your strengths are, go where your loves are."

Hadley Wood, MD:

I mean, that's the perfect softball for me because on the topic of reinventing yourself, you've got a next chapter coming up post-dermatology chair. I'd like to know what's your next chapter? I know that you're not the kind of person who's going to be done setting the world ablaze. What's next for you?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I'm going to continue my clinical practice on a smaller FTE (part-time). My husband decreased his FTE a couple years ago because of a couple medical issues. We're going to match our days. I love what I do. I feel so blessed to have the profession that I have. I plan to continue to operate probably four or five more years and teach and mentor. I'm very involved in the American Board of Dermatology, which I, again, really enjoy. It's a nine-year appointment. I'm in charge of the Mohs Surgery Board exam as well as the in-service core exam surgery questions for the residents, and I really, really enjoy that. I will continue those endeavors. I'm on the American Academy of Dermatology board of directors for a four-year position. I'm really going to enjoy that as well, really from an educational standpoint and also for legislative and advocacy issues. Those are other things I'll be continuing on.

Hadley Wood, MD:

What about those days that you're not working, besides going for that hole in one?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Right, exactly.

Hadley Wood, MD:

What other things are you going to be doing to pave the next way for you?

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I have got two beautiful grandchildren, and I plan on spending more time with them. They are currently in Minneapolis, but we're trying to lure them back this way. There'll be a lot more opportunities to do that. My husband is actually a Masters swimmer. I have three children really, the girls and my husband, but I go to his meets and cheer him on.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh, I love that.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

I used to be a swimmer as well. I'm actually considering going back to doing that because I will tell you, when you go to these Masters swim meets and you see 95-year-old people, women and men, doing the 100 fly, you think, you know what? I can do this.

Hadley Wood, MD:

It's really inspiring. It's one of the few sports that doesn't wreck your joints as you get older.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

That's exactly right.

Hadley Wood, MD:

That's awesome. I want to see a picture of you at poolside, for sure, with your little cheerleading outfit on for Todd.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Yes, of course.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Well, Allison, this has been awesome. I know that this isn't the end for you here at the Cleveland Clinic or with the many relationships you've made with folks here, but I just want to wish you all the best.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

Thank you.

Hadley Wood, MD:

I really thank you for everything you've given back to all the people you've touched over these many, many decades of service to our organization.

Allison Vidimos, MD:

It's been a true gift to me, and well done on your very first interview.

Hadley Wood, MD:

Oh, thank you. Thanks, I appreciate it.

Dr. Cara King:

Thank you for listening today. Join us again as we draw inspirations and insights from women doctors, past, present, and future. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at WPSA1. That's at WPSA and the number one. This podcast is supported by Cleveland Clinic's Women's Professional Staff Association as part of the Cleveland Clinic Centennial Celebration.