She’s Got Skin in Her Game Plan
Community service clinics have drawn this future physician into a career in dermatology
By Bob Woods
Photography by Peter Freed
Peyton Warp is passionate about mentorship and helping guide students starting their medical school journey.
P
eyton Warp, a third-year M.D. student at the Miller School, has traversed a circuitous path to her focus on dermatology. It began when she was an undergraduate at the University of Florida, where she majored in biomedical engineering. “I volunteered to work in a free, student-run clinic,” she recalled, “which inspired me to become a physician in the first place.”
That experience led Warp, during her first year at the Miller School, to the IDEA Exchange clinic, a program within the Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Department of Community Service (DOCS). IDEA is the acronym for the Infectious Diseases Elimination Act, a law championed by Hansel Tookes, M.D. ’14, M.P.H. ’09, professor of medicine at the Miller School, and passed by the Florida legislature in 2016. The clinic is the state’s first needle-exchange program for people who inject drugs. “I was a staff member at the IDEA clinic, where many patients needed treatment for skin infections and wound care,” Warp said. “That was my first exposure to dermatology.”
In January of this year, she began her research year as a Dean’s Research Excellence Award in Medicine (DREAM) scholarship recipient. Under the direction of Andrea Maderal, M.D. ’13, and Scott Elman, M.D., faculty members in the Dr. Phillip Frost Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, Warp is researching a novel treatment for calcinosis cutis, a debilitating condition in which calcium salts are deposited into the skin and subcutaneous tissue. “Our study aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this novel treatment, first in a porcine wound model, then hopefully in human patients,” she said.
Warp is still involved with Wolfson DOCS, participating at its health fairs as a station manager for the dermatology station, which provides free full-body skin exams to South Florida’s underserved population. She’s also the executive director of Miller Mentors, a student organization that pairs University of Miami pre-med students with medical students at the Miller School. “Mentorship is a passion of mine and a huge reason why I’ve gotten to where I am today,” she said. “Being a mentor is the least I can do for all that’s been done for me.” 
