Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristine Romine, MD.
Hi Kristine, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Kristine A. Romine, MD, FAAD, is the CEO and founder of Camelback Dermatology & Skin Surgery in Phoenix, AZ. She holds a position as adjunct faculty at Midwestern University, Glendale, AZ campus, Northern Arizona University, Phoenix campus, AT Still University, AZ campus, and Touro University Nevada, educating medical students, residents, and physician assistant students.
Dr. Romine received her Medical Degree with the highest honors from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She then moved home to Phoenix to help care for her ailing father. She completed an Internal Medicine residency and a chief residency in Internal Medicine at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. She then pursued and completed a residency in Dermatology & Mohs surgery training at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. She served as Chief Resident and is honored to be the first graduating resident from this highly successful program. Dr. Romine completed a Physician CEO program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2017. She returned to Kellogg for a Corporate Governance Course strengthening her position as a Director on both publicly held and private businesses.
Dr. Romine moved to a beautiful part of the country to begin private practice with a well-established group in Oak Ridge, TN, for five years. However, the dream of starting her practice remained one of her goals. In the summer of 2003, Dr. Romine moved back to her hometown and founded Camelback Dermatology & Skin Surgery, which has become a premier private dermatology practice in Phoenix, Arizona, and has grown dramatically with multiple Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants. Dr. Romine is at the top of her field, specializing in Cosmetic, Laser dermatology, and Mohs Surgery. Her expertise is partly derived from her knowledge of anatomy and love of surgery. Her patients routinely travel great distances for her aesthetic skills for cosmetic procedures and surgery. Dr. Romine founded her Aesthetic Company, Kristine Romine, MD Advanced Medical Skin Care, in 2016, under which she provides personalized advanced injection training.
Dr. Romine established a medical scribe and mentoring program at Camelback Dermatology & Skin Surgery in 2011. This program was established to mentor and grow the next generation of medical professionals. Those accepted into this highly sought-after program have gone on to Medical School, Physician Assistant School, Nurse Practitioner School, or other medical professional programs. And often return to Camelback Dermatology & Skin Surgery to complete their clinical rotations. The highly engaged alums from this apprenticeship atmosphere created a network and, with current medical scribes, serve as a resource for study and school application tips, resume review, and mock interview sessions. This is an outstanding network of young medical professionals who can call on each other for support and future opportunities. This mentorship program is a passion of Dr. Romine’s and one of the most rewarding aspects of her career. Dr. Romine is a highly respected and invited media personality in the area of cosmetic dermatology and surgery. She also lectures nationally on “Partnering with Patients for a Lifetime of Healthy, Beautiful Skin” ™ to her peers and the public on many topics, including cosmetic procedures and sun protection. She is an invited speaker and hands-on trainer for cosmetic procedures, including demonstrating advanced techniques for soft tissue fillers, laser treatments, as well as facial and body rejuvenation at many national and international meetings. Dr. Romine has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and magazine and print articles for nationwide news sources. She has been honored as a “Top Doctor” by Phoenix Magazine for 11 years and was the featured “Top Doc,” including her profile and cover story for the 2007 edition. Dr. Romine is an early adopter of technology and has successfully launched many new innovative therapies and procedures over her career. Dr. Romine continues to be invited to be trained and help create protocols for new procedures, most recently CellFX and Avéli.
Dr. Romine remains an active fellow of many relevant national organizations, including the American Academy of Dermatology, American Society for Mohs Surgery, American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, Women’s Dermatologic Society, American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, American Cutaneous Oncology Society, The Dermatologic and Aesthetic Surgery International League, and the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology & Aesthetic Surgery. She is a board member at large for the Arizona Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery Society and a founding member of the World Physicians Organization; She serves as the Arizona Representative to the American Academy of Dermatology Advisory Board. Dr. Romine has served on the board of Evolus and the Board of Directors; Dr. Romine is on the Board of Directors and a member of the Advisory Board for Top MD. Dr. Romine also serves as a Director on the Board of AccessElite. Dr. Romine has served as a national trainer for Allergan, Galderma, Evolus, Medicis, and Merz. Dr. Romine is a wife and devoted mother of 4 wonderful children and loves traveling, yoga, reading, and spending time with her family.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Camelback Dermatology & Skin Surgery and Kristine Romine MD Advanced Medical Skin Care have been blessed with abundant opportunities to care for our patients and our team. Starting a new business is always challenging; however, being in my hometown, I had lots of support from family. Despite having many other Dermatologists in the vicinity of my practice, I have never felt any competition because our focus is different. Our differentiator is and has always been first and foremost about our focus on education and offering the latest and best treatments. My mission continues to be ‘Partnering with Patients for a Lifetime of Healthy, Beautiful Skin’ (TM) since our incorporation almost 20 years ago.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk about your work. What should we know?
Kristine has been a board-certified Dermatologist and Mohs surgeon for 27 years, and Sara Is a Certified Nurse Practitioner, earning her doctorate about 2 years ago. Our purpose, first and foremost, is to be educators of our patients and our team members. Besides our physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, most of our team comprises pre-medical graduate studies assistants/scribes. For approximately 12 years, we have provided on-the-job education for high-performing pre- medical career-oriented individuals meeting the competitive criteria to join our team. Upon ‘graduation’ from our program, they become leaders in their graduate medical programs. It is very rewarding to help these young people reach their goals and become leaders in their graduate programs. We have many alumni of our KRMD medical assistant/ scribe program who are now ‘paying it forward by mentoring others.
Our mission is to continuously be learning and constantly be on the cutting edge, searching for simple, improved, innovative solutions to problems that all humans with skin face daily. We only partner with like-minded companies whose values match our own to provide optimal outcomes for our patients with the least side effects.
Because we are early adopters of new and best-in-class procedures, like-minded companies have given us numerous opportunities to offer our patients amazing technology before it comes mainstream. We help lead by providing the companies with best practices in using their newest and superior (safe and effective) treatments for various skin concerns. One of our newest and favorite game changers is the CellFX procedure to remove benign lesions without surgery and a reduced risk of scarring in as few as one to two simple treatments. In my 30 years of practice, I have witnessed treatments in many arenas becoming more sophisticated with decreasing downtime. We offer the best, from skin cancer to aesthetic treatments, while keeping our patients active doing the things they wish to maintain a high quality of life. Similarly, with CellFX, we can now offer removal of benign lesions, which in the past would have required many treatments, or resulted in the need for a decrease in activity and scarring more notable than the lesion itself. So, in short, our mission is to continue to learn and stay on the cutting edge so we can offer the best treatments and education to our patients and our team, who will continue to provide a high level of excellence.
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