Alexa Kimball, MD ’94, MPH, excels across multiple areas: business, research, patient care, and teaching. An internationally recognized expert in psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), Kimball heads a top woman-led business in Massachusetts, while also serving as a practicing dermatologist in Boston and a professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School. Her achievements have earned her numerous awards and several board and advisory council seats.
Kimball credits the Yale System and the support of outstanding Yale School of Medicine (YSM) faculty and mentors with helping to shape her way of thinking and prepare her to become a leader.
Allure of Dermatology
It was partially luck and affinity that brought Kimball to dermatology. When she was a third-year YSM student, a friend of a friend suggested that she consider dermatology, which she did via a rotation. Then the magic happened.
“The moment I started the rotation, I just knew I was home,” says Kimball. “The pattern recognition elements suited the way I thought and diagnosed things. It just clicked for me. And I found the complex immunology fascinating, and the challenges of the problems and the impact on patients compelling. Moreover, the bedside-to-bench elucidation of some of the pathophysiology behind the problems turned out to be incredibly important as I embarked on my career, initially in clinical trials.”
Impact of the Yale System
That career has been shaped in part by the Yale System. Kimball notes, “It encourages students to explore areas without penalty or risk. It encouraged me to think broadly about the types of things I wanted to do.”
Kimball took full advantage of it, spending one summer working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and time working for CBS Evening News and for the Winslow Indian Healthcare Center. “I had amazing experiences that provided a broad base for what I wanted to do,” she says.
In her final year at YSM, Kimball expanded her explorations by focusing her thesis on a topic unrelated to dermatology: how the media interpreted cocaine use in the 1980s and 1990s. She notes, “Interestingly, one night I drafted a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) based on my thesis. I submitted it, and JAMA published it. At the time, I didn't realize what a big deal that was.”
After her residency in dermatology at Stanford University Medical Center, Kimball weighed the many options open to her for next steps. Having previously done a rotation at NIH, the agency invited her into its basic science program. “I remember thinking, ‘I'm really mediocre at lab. I'm flattered, but this is probably not the right thing.’” She continued to think broadly and wanted to learn more about the opportunity. “I met with the head of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), and he was willing to be a little adventurous about what we should embark on,” she notes. “We designed a new program just for me—a clinical trials fellowship that included my getting an MPH at Johns Hopkins. I accepted the fellowship, and that program turned out to be incredibly foundational, later becoming a popular part of the NIH portfolio.”
Rising Leader
By early mid-career, Kimball became vice chair of the Department of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. She was subsequently appointed senior vice president of Massachusetts General Physician Organization. Part of what helped prepare Kimball for these roles was her clinical trials training, which taught her about project management, outcomes, and safety culture, and her interest in the physician workforce, which surfaced during a shortage of dermatologists.
In 2016, Kimball left Mass General to assume her current roles of president and CEO of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She oversees the organization’s 2,350 physicians and providers. Kimball states, “My day job, which I love, is all about making the lives of physicians better, so they can take care of patients.”
She also continues to see patients and runs a research program in HS. She emphasizes, “I still practice because it is so core to being good at the rest of my job and the research.”
Commenting on her career, Kimball says, “Probably the most gratifying thing I have done in my career is bring therapies that are tested and effective to HS patients. I also enjoy seeing my patients every week, because it brings home why it is that we’re doing what we’re doing. It’s such a privilege to be able to bring them to a better place.”
Leading in an Era of Uncertainty
Kimball’s approach to leadership, including in uncertain times, reflects lessons learned from YSM.
She states, “The Yale System and approach taught me to be curious, to explore different avenues, to not be afraid of failure or dead ends, and to willingly and thoughtfully tackle hard problems. I often say to my team, ‘If we are succeeding at everything we do, we’re not trying enough things. There should be some element of innovation that is not successful to ensure we’re pushing the boundaries of what we do.’ Importantly, the Yale System also taught me to think about how I was going to do lifelong learning to bring the most that I could to the jobs that I do.”
Her perspective on leading in today’s environment: “I think that in this era of uncertainty, you need to be unafraid to tackle tough problems, but you also need to remain optimistic that you’ll find interesting new ways to solve those challenges and problems. We’ve been doing that for a long time in medicine, and we’ll continue to do that. That’s what makes this job so great.”
Special Note:
Kimball looks forward to reminiscing more about YSM. On September 12, she is hosting a reception with Dean Brown for Boston-area YSM alumni at her home, where she hopes to connect with some of her lifelong YSM friends and others. For invitation details, contact Alison Gillott at alison.gillott@yale.edu.