Meena Julapalli, MD: Finding and Prioritizing Joy in the Pediatric Dermatology Specialty

Meena Julapalli, MD, is a board-certified pediatric dermatologist practicing at Bluebird Dermatology in Houston, Texas, and the founder of The Joyful Path, an organization aimed at inspiring connection, community, and advocacy.

At the 2024 Society for Pediatric Dermatology (SPD) Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Julapalli presented a session titled, "Rediscovering Joy in our Lives and the Workplace."

Julapalli spoke with Dermatology Times to discuss the highlights of her session and what she is most excited about in the future of pediatric dermatology.

"Connection and joy has always been at the heart and foundation of SPD, and I think we can absolutely lead the way as a beacon of light for that love and healing within ourselves, for each other, and the people that we serve," Julapalli said.

Transcript

Meena Julapalli, MD: My name is Dr Meena Julapalli. I'm a board-certified pediatric dermatologist at Bluebird Dermatology in Houston, Texas, and also founder of The Joyful Path, whose mission is to help people, especially children, discover the joy of their unique gifts and empower them by building their intuition of how to nourish their mind, body, and soul.

Dermatology Times: What are key highlights and takeaways from your session, "Rediscovering Joy in our Lives and the Workplace?"

Julapalli: I'm so excited to be talking about my favorite subject, joy, at the upcoming SPD meeting in Toronto. The topic "rediscovering joy and life in the workplace" was born out of seeing so much disconnection all around me with the pandemic and everything going on in the world right now. I think so much of our rising mental health crisis, depression, anxiety, loneliness, burnout, stems from disconnection from who we are and the world around us. My talk is about how we can reignite that connection through cultivating joy.

The SPD has always been my favorite meeting to go to, because it's like a family reunion. Connection and joy has always been at the heart and foundation of SPD, and I think we can absolutely lead the way as a beacon of light for that love and healing within ourselves, for each other, and the people that we serve.

Dermatology Times: What is new or upcoming in pediatric dermatology that excites you?

Julapalli: One of the things that I'm most excited about that's upcoming in pediatric dermatology is: There's a lot of newer medications that are out there, that we're just beginning to learn of the safety and efficacy in kids, but also how we can integrate that into their daily lives. With kids, a lot of the studies that are out there take a lot longer to discover the safety and efficacy of them, and so much of deciding what we do for kids has to do with just integrating that into their daily lives.

I think the future of of medicine in general, and not just dermatology, is integrative and collaborative. A lot of the newer healing modalities that are out there, medications, really, I think, will be the most successful when we try to bring all those things together, whether it's different fields of overlap with dermatology and, for example, rheumatology, or just just with the fact that so many people are seeking care outside of our traditional model of medicine. I think that it's really important for us to be in tune with all of that, so that we can serve our patients in the best way--so that we can serve our patients in a cooperative way that honors their experience and builds that sacred relationship of trust that has been at the heart of medicine for so long, but I think has been lost in recent years. I think it's really important to make sure that we continue to hear their stories and listen to their experience, so that we can use our own expertise and work together to empower them, so that they can advocate for themselves and for others.

[Transcript has been edited for clarity.]