Professional Accomplishments
Victoria Barbosa is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of Dermatology and the Director of the Hair Loss Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and her medical degree cum laude from the Yale University School of Medicine, where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. She completed an internship in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and her residency in dermatology at Yale. She completed the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She also holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
Dr. Barbosa is an internationally recognized expert in hair and scalp disorders and in treating dermatological conditions in skin of color. She joined the University of Chicago faculty in 2019. She has previously been the owner of a successful private practice, Millennium Park Dermatology, and was a Vice President in Research and Development at L’Oréal USA where she built and managed the L’Oréal Institute for Ethnic Hair and Skin Research.
Dr. Barbosa is the Immediate Past President of the Chicago Dermatological Society, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois Dermatological Society, and a Scientific Advisor for the Cicatricial Alopecia Research Foundation. She was a founding board member of the Skin of Color Society
Work-Life Balance
Achieving work-life balance requires planning and assistance from others. Our work as physicians certainly keeps us busy. Family commitments are enjoyable, but also time consuming. If you’re not careful, the time left for yourself after you finish taking care of everyone else is inadequate. I try to delegate tasks that other people can perform. With a husband, two children and a dog, I find wash-and-fold laundry service, cleaning service and grocery delivery to be necessities. My children are both school-aged, so making sure they are keeping up with their homework is a job unto itself. My husband and I try to plan activities on the weekends that allow us to have fun with the kids. Bowling nights, family game nights, movie nights and creative craft projects are always a hit. We also get season tickets to the Goodman and plan nights out at the Lyric and/or the CSO to ensure “date nights” without the kids are on the calendar. I schedule periodic outings with my girlfriends; we enjoy meeting for tea and also having “girl’s nights out”. For me, alone time is equally important. I enjoy knitting, walking through my beautiful neighborhood early in the morning, and reading. My family and I are now are finding new ways to socialize while social distancing.
Advice to Women Faculty and Trainees
Find a mentor, be a mentor!
Mentorship is important at all phases of your career; whether you are at the beginning and trying to chart your course, you are mid-career and exploring options to keep your journey interesting or are deciding how to wind down, a mentor will help you. Your path will take many twists and turns; some you will have planned and others will be unexpected. These advisors can shape how you evaluate your options, make suggestions you may not have considered, and help pave your way with introductions to other valuable contacts and resources. In fact, you should have several mentors over the course of your journey, because different people offer different perspectives. For instance, you may have a research mentor, a clinical mentor, a career mentor, and a life mentor. These relationships often start with a very well-defined purpose but become deeper and more personal over time. Even when you feel like you are just finding your way, remember that there are people who are striving to be where you are. Take the opportunity to be visible and available to students both at the University and in the community. Honor commitments to those you think you can advise well. In this way you can reach back to give back while you are moving forward