FEATURE 4
THE ACTION OF LEARNING
Unlike most scientists or doctors, MARIA ANGELICA SELIM, MD didn’t have an “Aha!” moment when she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would be a physician. Medicine was just simply around her—her father is an internist; her mother, a pediatrician. So, she grew up assuming being a doctor was her future. Identifying a specialty, though, was harder. To find what best fit her interests, Selim’s father coordinated times for her to shadow his colleagues who worked in areas of medicine most related to images—radiology, dermatology, and pathology. For her, pathology, with its opportunities to examine shapes and colors, hit the mark. “My father asked me if I felt I could be the person behind the microscope all day,” she said, recalling her excitement at what she saw on the slide.
by WHITNEY J. PALMER
SHAPES AND COLORS The aesthetic appeal of skin tissue helped determine Dr. Selim’s career choice. She created this art wall in the DermPath sign-out room; the monitor shows tissue with lichen sclerosus.
“I said yes. I found what his colleague did to be fascinating, and I could easily see myself in that role.” Today, Selim, Professor of Pathology and Dermatology, serves as the Chief of the Division of Dermatopathology at Duke University Medical Center and is considered a leading international voice in vulvar pathology. She is also a highly respected and sought-after educator who has spent more than 20 years at Duke cultivating the next generation of pathologists.
