We were lucky to catch up with Haley D. Heibel, M.D. recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Haley D., thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents have and continue to be extremely supportive of me. They encouraged me to pursue my dreams and to nurture inner confidence along the journey. As a dermatologist, my father has impacted my choice to pursue dermatology and commitment to the field. He never tried to influence me to pursue this path, but has done nothing but aid me in the process. My mother is an incredibly generous and strong woman and previous school teacher, who has instilled in me confidence to express myself as a female author and creative and nurtured my love of children’s books.

My parents have been there for me through the ups and downs in my path along with providing independence to pursue training that would best further my career. Of most importance, my parents create an environment of love and support that I feel I can be brave and overcome whatever challenges I may face while remaining true to myself and my values.

When I made the decision to pursue a career in medicine and transfer to the University of Notre Dame to complete my pre-medical studies, my parents received this news with welcome and support, as they have with all of my ambitious ideas. This Catholic education and training as well as the teachers I had at Notre Dame have heavily impacted my approach to patient care and advocacy. In fact, I was introduced to advocacy at Notre Dame and the importance of using my position of leadership as a physician to create positive change in my community was emphasized, along with service to underserved communities.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Haley Heibel, and I am a physician pursuing my dream of becoming a dermatologist in New York City as well as author of Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself. I am from Lincoln, Nebraska, and my father inspired my calling to the field of dermatology, which was strengthened by seeing how skin diseases affected my peers and others. After completing my pediatrics internship, I wanted to create a book that would connect with families in a personal way and saw a need to provide education and advocacy materials for children suffering from skin disease. Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself is my first published children’s book and was written to advocate for children who suffer from skin disease to feel more confident in their own skin. In addition, my goal is to promote inclusivity and belonging in social groups. “Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself” is also the name of the fictional organization that the children and I create in the book to help other children with skin disease. My goals with the outreach and book events that I’ve organized are to create a community, and I hope to make the organization, “Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself,” a reality.
I am proud of the message that I’ve created in Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself, and my ability to use this as a vehicle to express myself as well as connect with and advocate for patients. I hope that readers will feel inspired to be true to who they are and realize that their confidence and self-esteem come from within. It is most important to be kind to everyone and to apply your skills to help other people.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I applied four times before I received my dermatology residency. I was in the process of publishing Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself during my third application cycle, and, when the opportunities available for the possibility of pursuing this highly competitive specialty did not seem promising. Having this creative project to focus on as well as a renewed spirit of my purpose as a dermatologist helped me maintain an optimistic perspective and to try again – ultimately finding a program that would lead to my residency training in New York City, which was my dream location for training. I also shared in some of the challenges that the characters in Embrace Your Skin, Embrace Yourself overcome, so placing myself as a character in the book was intended to re-affirm my commitment to patients and encourage young readers to trust their doctor with their concerns.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to re-define my own sense of confidence. Earlier in my education, my confidence was highly impacted by outcomes (obtaining high grades, winning a match/game), but I had to develop a sense of inner confidence that remained within me, regardless of what was going on in my life. I learned to develop strength in the face of adversity and recognition of what I have to offer and to keep moving forward. This also required that I focus on the present moment and gratitude for what I have – not a constant focus on what I hope to achieve. Finally, as a Catholic, it required me to trust in God and let go of things outside of my control and an openness to the plan in store for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://mascotbooks.com/landingpage/embraceyourskin/
• Other: https://kidliomag.com/meet-our-fabulous-author-dr-haley-heibel/ https://kidliomag.com/embrace-your-skin-embrace-yourself-by-dr-haley-d-heibel/

Image Credits
Not applicable