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GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com | 63 From left to right: Kate and her sister, Sarah, kayaking In Maine. LA Plastic Surgery & Dermatology staff together at Paws on the Catwalk Humane Society fundraiser 2015. The Ross family: Mom Dorene, Dad Jack and sister Sarah at mom's retirement party. Do you see yourself as a businesswoman now and not just a doctor? I do. It almost shocked me how much there was to do when I came in. ere wasn't a lot of insurance being processed so in that side of the practice, I kind of had to try and figure out how to reinstate it. When I started, I had no one at the front desk. I had no nurses. I did everything, from when the patients checked in to when they left. I learned all of the day-to-day running of the business components and I think it's good for every doctor to see that side of it at least once so you understand what goes on in the background, what your front desk has to do, what your nurses are doing, what the office manager is doing. Was there a business philosophy that your dad shared with you that carries with you today? Even now, when he's kind of pushing toward retirement, my dad is still there. He works on the weekends and he is just a very hard worker. I think he instilled in me that if you're going to make something successful then you have to work very hard to do it. You're going to be the one who's behind the scenes doing things all the time - even the things that people will never see. at's what kind of sticks with me is this kind of thing - I am doing a lot to build this practice but at the same time, the benefit of that is if I want to take a vacation, I can. I don't have to feel guilty or ask 20 people for permission. It gives you a lot more control of your life in that way. What has Sarasota shown you about patients and their perspective on medicine? In dermatology especially, I think a slightly older demographic is a good thing because they just tend to have more skincare needs and more skin cancer. Sarasota is pretty saturated with dermatologists, so I am also in Bradenton more just because that's where there's more need. From your perspective on dermatology, it is very relationship-based. How do you make that patient-doctor connection? e most important thing is to not do anything that I personally would not do to make them look unnatural, even if they're asking for it. I think that is where a lot of doctors go wrong, when they do what the patient asks for even if they think it might not give them the best result. I think the most important thing for us is to just look at someone, have a serious conversation about what's expected, what they want, and understand that before anything is done. I've found that that helps people to trust what I'm going to do. How do you advise patients to get a natural look when plastic surgery among celebrities is seen as so artificial? With all these celebrities you see and people say I don't want to look frozen. I don't want that face where I can't move. I want them to look refreshed, younger, healthier, or (more awake), and that's the goal. It's a subtle improvement that just makes you look more like a younger version of you. Do you have a personal motto? You seem like a very positive person about things. Continued on page 64

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