Beth Childs, M.D.

What this award means: To be recognized in this space is an incredible honor and very encouraging, and it motivates me to keep asking questions, pursuing meaningful research, and striving to contribute to a more thoughtful and personalized approach to care.

Mentor comment: Beth distinguished herself through exceptional clinical judgment, professionalism, and a sincere dedication to patient-centered care. She consistently demonstrated maturity, intellectual curiosity, and compassion well beyond her level of training. Even before beginning residency, she has already produced highly impactful publications that will meaningfully advance the field. – Kaveh Nezafati, M.D., Assistant Professor of Dermatology

Background and family: I am originally from College Station, Texas, and was raised in a big family alongside four siblings. Two of my brothers (Matthew and Jonathan, identical twins) are currently second-year medical students at UT San Antonio Health Science Center. Prior to medical school, I worked in health care policy equity research at Raymond James, where I analyzed how policy and market forces influence health economics and patient care. That experience continues to inform how I think about medicine: not only at the bedside, but within the larger ecosystem in which we practice.

College: I completed a bachelor’s degree in business administration, majoring in the Business Honors Program and also finance, summa cum laude, at UT Austin.

What led to your career path: My path to dermatology began with a personal experience, being diagnosed with melanoma at age 7, which instilled an early awareness of the skin and its implications for broader health. Experiences shadowing in Parkland Memorial Hospital and a clinic as a first-year student exposed me to the amazing breadth of dermatology: a field that uniquely integrates visual diagnosis, procedural skill, immunology, and rapidly evolving therapeutics. It would be impossible to overstate how pivotal early mentorship was in my career path. I got plugged into single-cell RNA sequencing research in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, which opened my eyes to the cellular complexity underlying dermatologic disease.

UTSW activities: I serve as co-President of Southwestern Student Connection, where I helped grow a mentorship network that now supports approximately 1,000 premedical students through social media. I also served as Vice President of Marketing for both the Quality Improvement Program and the Consulting Club. I was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, where I helped pair mentors and mentees. I also served as a UTSW Social Media Ambassador and led the Skin of Color dermatology booth at the United to Serve health fair for two consecutive years. Much of my most meaningful work at UTSW has centered on service-oriented scholarship, including suicide prevention research at Parkland and interdisciplinary translational research in the lab of Todd Aguilera, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology.

What words describe your UTSW experience: Community, curiosity, resilience, innovation, and enthusiasm.

One tip for medical school success: My life motto is to “view challenges as opportunities and be kind to people.”

Favorite way to relieve stress: I love fitness and look forward to long walks (I aim for 20,000 steps a day), running, and Solidcore. I am a pasta and wine fanatic as well and will always say yes to a dinner at Eataly after a long week.

Surprising fact: I love designing over-the-top figures for my papers and running my @Pink.Scrubs TikTok, where I share advice and try to make medicine feel more approachable for younger students.

Future plans: I am so excited to have matched at UT Southwestern for dermatology and hope to build a career in academics that continues to bridge translational discovery and clinical care. My research interests center on unraveling T-cell biology in dermatologic disease and leveraging those insights to identify and advance novel therapeutic targets.

About the award: The award is given to students who have advanced dermatological patient care, research, or teaching in a special way, or who show promise for leadership in these areas.