Abby Martinez and NAAF CEO, Nicole Friedland at PeDRA Conference 2022. Abigail Martinez joined the team as NAAF’s inaugural Medical Student Fellow in June. Abby attends medical school at Albany Medical College in Albany, NY. This year, she is completing a research year at the University of Washington—Seattle Department of Dermatology. Abby was born and raised in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents, and speaks English and Spanish. Her interest in the field of dermatology was first sparked when she suffered severe second degree burns as a kid due to the misconceptions surrounding skin of color and sun protection. This misconception would cause tragedy again when her father was diagnosed with skin cancer only a few years later. Abby decided then that medicine was the path for her and turned her focus on patient education and outreach. Abby is passionate about ensuring that patients not only have access to educational materials, but also that the materials are provided in a patient’s native language. She has worked on creating and translating educational material for several patient advocacy groups and organizations on several dermatological diseases. As a future dermatologist, Abby hopes to integrate her passions into her care and to continue to empower patients through advocacy and volunteer work. NAAF is thrilled to have Abby on the team! Since joining NAAF, Abby has dedicated time tracking scientific publications on AA to develop educational materials such as treatment and disease fact sheets. Abby recently represented NAAF at the Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance (PeDRA) meeting in Bethesda, Maryland.
