DermSurgery Associates welcomes Dr. Adrienne Choksi to its new Museum District clinic, located at 1200 Binz, Suite 460 in Houston’s Museum District. The new clinic expands the DermSurgery footprint, offering easy access to top-quality skin care for hundreds of area neighbors. Dr. Choksi specializes in general and cosmetic dermatology.
After attending the University of Texas in Austin for her undergraduate degree, Dr. Choksi earned her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She graduated at the top of her class, earning the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha honors society award. Her career then took her to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she did an internship in internal medicine, followed by residency training in dermatology at the University of Michigan.
Q: What drew you to medicine in general and to practicing dermatology, specifically?
Dr. Choksi: I knew most of my life that I wanted to be a doctor. In college, I volunteered at a chemotherapy infusion clinic, which inspired me to want to be an oncologist. While in medical school I did a rotation in dermatology and fell in love with it!
I love all aspects of dermatology, from treating complex rashes to injecting fillers. I think the variety is what makes my job fun. Early skin cancer detection has always been a passion of mine, since when caught in the earliest stages, skin cancer is very easy to treat, and you can really make a difference in a patient’s life if you are able to find an early skin cancer on a routine skin exam. I think my interest in skin cancer stems from my interest in oncology during medical school.
Q: Where has your career taken you and how did you end up back in Texas?
Dr. Choksi: I am originally from Oklahoma and met my husband in undergrad at UT in Austin. I completed my residency at the University of Michigan and then worked at Henry Ford Medical Group for three years. My husband is from Houston originally and is also in the medical field, so after we completed our training we decided to move back to Houston for the job opportunities and to be closer to family and friends.
Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?
Dr. Choksi: The most rewarding part of my job is the relationships I develop with my patients and their families over time. Many of my patients I see on a fairly routine basis, so I get to know them really well. I love talking to my patients and hearing their stories. I also love the fact that because I see people of all ages and treat a variety of conditions, from warts to acne to cosmetic procedures and skin cancer, I often get to develop relationships with entire families.
Q: Tell me about your care philosophy.
Dr. Choksi: My care philosophy is to treat every patient as if they were one of my family members. It’s really important to me to treat every patient with empathy and respect.
Q: You have published papers in industry journals. Tell me about the topic you found most compelling.
Dr. Choksi: When I worked at MD Anderson, I saw a lot of interesting skin reactions to some of the newer cancer therapies and focused several papers on these reactions. The newer immunotherapy drugs to treat cancer are really amazing and have revolutionized the way cancer is treated. Patients with metastatic melanoma, for example, now have a chance at long term survival due to these treatments. Many of these drugs, however, also come with significant side effects, many of which involve the skin. I had a unique opportunity to observe this first hand and was compelled to publish some of these reactions.
Q: What do you want your patients to know about you?
Dr. Choksi: On the one hand, I’m super organized and obsessive about how I run clinic and practice medicine. I’m very careful and I push myself to provide the highest quality care possible. On the other hand, I’m really laid back and easy to talk to. I really want my patients to feel comfortable when they come to see me, and I do my best to put them at ease.
Q: Tell me about what you do when you’re not at the clinic.
Dr. Choksi: I have two kids – a five-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy. They take up most of my time these days (in a good way!) so a lot of the other hobbies like cooking take the back burner. I do try to run fairly regularly. I usually try to do the Houston half marathon every year (one year I did the full marathon, but I don’t have too much time to train for that anymore). My daughter is getting interested in running so we’ve done some fun runs together. My family and I love traveling and spending time outdoors. We love hiking and traveling to the National Parks. We also enjoy taking the kids to Galveston. They love playing on the beach.
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