Edward V. Ross, M.D.

From laser focused physicist to renowed dermatologist he uses his knowledge to treat and develop new laser solutions in medicine

1. In your undergraduate studies, you received a B.S. in Physics. How has this knowledge benefited you?

My undergrad degree in physics has been very helpful, and in fact, it really spawned my fellowship because that made me feel more confident in starting a fellowship under Rox Anderson about 31 years ago. I was looking for something where I could relate physics and dermatology, and laser devices were the answer. That helped me to get a head start because I was already comfortable with the math.

2. During your career, you have been recognized as a leader in many different areas.  What is the most interesting aspect of dermatology that attracts you and why?

I was already interested in dermatology. It's kind of complicated, because the Navy paid for medical school. So, during my reserve time in the Navy I progressively went through medical school and didn't know what I wanted to do. I stepped into a dermatology rotation in my 4th year of medical school. Within a day I said, “this is what I want to do” and then, when I did my 4th year in medical school, I was committed to the Navy and came out here to San Diego. I did everything I could to increase my chances of getting into a coveted dermatology position and was able to do some research. During my 4th year in medical school, I did some research with fire ants. I actually had fire ants sting medical students. The research was a lot of fun. We put meat tenderizer on the fire ant stings to see if it made a difference - which it didn't. We anticipated it would not. And so that helped me to get a spot in dermatology. I did 2 years in Japan with the Navy as a general medical officer, came back to Bethesda, Maryland, and did my residency. Then I really got more interested in the physics of dermatology. There wasn't a lot of physics there, because all I knew was radiation therapy and light boxes. And then I heard about this guy, Rox Anderson, and that's when I got interested in possibly doing a fellowship with him. I was still in the Navy at the time.

I think being in the Navy or any of the armed forces is advantageous at some point in your career. We were fortunate enough to see a lot of things. We got to do some neat courses like the tropical medicine course in the Dominican Republic. We got to see interesting things there, and you get to interact with all the other specialties. I was working with some of the physicists at the subbase over at Point Loma.

You can also have interactions with people in the Department of Defense side. So. there's a lot of features of the military as a physician that you can take advantage of that are pretty unique.

3. What would you say to the newer generation of future physicians about the benefit of serving in the Armed Forces in terms of exposure to the many aspects of dermatology and the broad experiences one has?

Well, first, I would coach them to join the service, and you join the service partly to help defray the cost of medical school, and once you've done that, you have to navigate the system to try to optimize your chance of going into dermatology.  So that's the key thing. And then, once you're in dermatology and the armed services, it's a lot like non-armed services dermatology. There are a few differences, but for the most part we all have the same resident experience (as we must have according to the ACGME).

But there's some unique features of the military that are nice, that can  make it better. Some of the things I mentioned, like the tropical medicine course, and some exposure to some military specific issues. We attacked shaving bumps in dark-skinned men back 25 years ago, which was a big problem, still a big problem. But we were able to come up with a hair removal laser that was optimized for darker skin and published that work. And that treatment has kind of taken off a bit over the last 25 years. So, if you are problem-oriented with a focused mission, I think the military allows you to explore that. There's some funding for that, too, which is nice. You're not so beholden to see so many patients in a certain amount of time like a resident in a non-military training program. As a resident, you can kind of do some other things. Even as a staff member you have a lot of flexibility as far as what you might want to do versus being a non-military physician.

4. What attracted you to Scripps after your service in the Navy?

I was already moonlighting the last 9 years of my Navy career here. I was going on Saturday mornings and Tuesday nights, and I had a little practice, probably one quarter of a full practice already set up. So, it was just natural for me to just wander over here, and a lot of the physicians were ex-navy physicians. Dr. Hugh  Greenway, my mentor at Scripps , was an ex-Navy physician. So, it was really a natural progression. I felt comfortable here, and Dr. Greenway was willing to help us buy several  lasers through his fundraising efforts. 

We have over 900 physicians in our medical group and about 25 dermatologists. I mean, some days it would be great to be in private practice and control my destiny a little more.  I'm going to ride the Scripps wave all the way to the beach, and so far, it's been a pretty darn  good ride.

5.   You are highly recognized for your work with lasers in skin rejuvenation. Describe when you chose to use this technology for skin rejuvenation treatment and some of the benefits recognized using it.

The beauty of lasers in general in dermatology is that your target is right in front of you, which is great. With a lot of other disciplines, you have to get a fiber just to get to where you're going. So, we're right there. And the other thing is, you can really use the basic physics of laser tissue interactions to guide you to optimize the therapy. So, it makes sense. I like things that make sense. And to be honest these biologic drugs you see advertised on tv, they might  make sense. But there's all kinds of convoluted biological pathways, which tend to be more complex than engineering and energy-based devices for the skin. The immediate reaction is very predictable.

You've got a certain amount of energy. You're converting either light or electricity to heat for the most part, and if you are able to build a device or build a laser the way you want to and use it properly, you can craft many different strategies to deal with difficult challenges. You can use lasers that aren't optimized for something, but you can just tweak the settings and use them for something else. We have hair removal lasers that can be used, for example, for pigmented lesions that people don't take advantage of. We have vascular lasers like the pulse dye laser that can be used for pigment. A lot of lasers are typecast, and that’s out of habit.

If you get outside of your comfort zone and you can think outside of that box,  you can come up with creative solutions, with existing technologies. There are a lot of places that only have 2 or 3 lasers. So, I think what's fascinating is that the physics never changes. You can change a lot of things about it, but the physical principles do not change, and as long as you are aware of those physical principles, and you're true to those physical principles, you can make a lot of equipment do a lot more things than you probably know.

6.  What contributions would you like to be recognized for in your medical career?

The only contribution I'd like to be recognized for is just coming up with a few good ideas to make laser medicine better and stay true to the science. It is not saying things just to get some sort of secondary gain. It's a tough world to be in, because, in a sense, you've got to be a cheerleader for the laser industry to some degree, or you'll be marginalized, you know. You can't say it's not going to work every time, or you'll be like scrooge, and you'll be in the corner by yourself.

On the other hand, some of my colleagues, including me, have been too like, rah, rah! This is going to work. It's great. And then we found out later, it wasn't that great. It was never going to work that well, and probably collectively, we weren't honest enough with the company and ourselves to say, this isn't a good idea.

And as I've gotten older, I realize it's probably better to be honest about the science. And sometime even if it does “work” the device or approach is  not going to be helpful because you have to think about the business part, you know. So, I think that's the biggest contribution.  I would like to be known for trying to stick to the science and dealing with devices that really work.

7.  What has your experience been like in working with a young company like BellaMia?

I think it's always fun to start with a company that's starting  from scratch, so that you're not tweaking a product but developing a product. This ” from scratch company” having multiple wavelengths in one product, as well as the team that has been put together and the expertise and experience of the engineers, is great. Seasoned and  experienced engineers are what will make this work.  And all of the wavelengths that this device admits will tend to have fairly quick results.  There's no waiting 4 months for to make your neck tighten or anything like that.

You're going to see results right away, or certainly within weeks or days. I think that's exciting because you're not relying on some kind of concept that's not sound. And I like the idea of putting these wavelengths in one box and doing it in a way where it's relatively quiet and small and upgradable and modular. I think it's really nice to see the type of interdisciplinary team that you've put together with BellaMia, and it's exciting to see where it goes.

I'm honored to be a part of this team. This team involves great physicians, great scientists and yourself, Janet. Putting this all together takes a special skill. I couldn't do what you did by assembling this team. You're like the general manager of an NFL team.