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UAB Green & Told is a biweekly podcast that shares the stories from members of the UAB community. Through Green & Told, the UAB Office of Alumni Affairs will sit down with alumni, faculty, students and others. Hosted and produced by Greg Berry, Assistant Director of Communications and Governmental Relations, the podcast brings each guest's unique UAB perspective to those who listen in.
Greg Berry: Hello, Blazers. You're listening to UAB Green and Told. Every episode brings you closer to the people and experiences that define UAB. Welcome to episode 172 of UAB Green and Told, originally released Monday, March 23, 2026.
Want to catch up on past episodes of UAB's most listened to podcasts? Visit alumni.uab.edu, or find us on Spotify and the Apple Podcast app. And while you're there, leave a written review so more Blazers can discover us.
I'm Greg Berry, a UAB alum and director of communications in the Office of Alumni Affairs.
Some dreams start small and stay small. Others start early and never let go. For today's guest, Lauren Miller, growing up in a no stoplight Alabama town didn't limit her vision. In fact, it fueled it. The road ahead wasn't easy, but every turn brought her closer to the life she imagined. As we’ll learn, before the white coat and title, there was a moment of revelation – a gap year in Florida that changed everything.
Lauren Miller: How did I not know what this was? I'd never heard of being a PA before, and the patients absolutely loved him. And I was seeing that he could do a lot of the same stuff— – not the same stuff outside of most surgery – that the physician was doing.
Greg: Fast forward to UAB, where two and a half years became something unforgettable.
Lauren: Just… gosh. I look back on those years, and they just really are – like, magical would be a good way to describe those.
Greg: Plus, she'll share why her work feels less like a job and more like a family reunion.
Lauren: My day to day is just kind of like, yes, I'm treating patients, but I kind of feel like I'm just hanging out with family a lot of the time.
Greg: Lauren Miller grew up where life moves slow – no stoplights, tractors on Main Street, and church bells on Sundays. That quiet upbringing in Weaver, Alabama, didn't quiet her dreams. In fact, they started early. She always pictured herself in a role that mattered, one that healed.
Lauren: My mom says I have said since I was a little girl that I always wanted to be a doctor. Initially, that's what I would say, and she would buy me dolls. I loved dolls, and I would give them some kind of fake ailment, and I would make them better. And, um, so growing up, I always just said, “I want to be a doctor,” and I really felt like that's what I was going to do.
I graduated high school, um, started at UAB still saying I was going to go to medical school. That was my thought. And, um, I ended up with a medical issue my freshman year of college and ended up leaving UAB and coming back home. And the initial plan was for me to be home for like a semester, and I was going to, you know, get better. We were going to figure it out, and then I would just go back. And it didn’t necessarily work out that way.
So, I ended up being here for, you know, another year or two before I feel like I was kind of like, “Okay, I could go back if I wanted to.” But I honestly kind of fell in love with Jacksonville State. I loved their small class sizes and all of that. And, um, so I double majored, still thinking I wanted to go to medical school, and did chemistry/biology, was studying for my MCATs. And, um, it took me five years to double major that with some of the health stuff.
So, um, I decided, “You know what? I think I'm going to take a gap year, and I'm going to go to Florida, and I'm going to work with my mom's best friend who managed a dermatology practice, and I was going to work with the dermatologist for the summer after I graduated college.” And I went down, and the physician ended up having a medical emergency himself and was going to be out all summer. So it was, “Well, you can stay, but you’ll shadow the PA.”
And honestly, I'd never heard of a PA. I didn't know what that was. And so, I was like, “Well, I mean, gosh, I'm here.” And so, I ended up staying for the summer and shadowing him. And, like, a week in, I was like, “This is the coolest. How did I not know what this was?” I'd never heard of being a PA before. And the patients absolutely loved him. And I was seeing that he could do a lot of the same stuff – if not the same stuff outside of most surgery – that the physician was doing or was going to do.
And so, I was like, “You know what?” After I talked to him, I was like, “I think I'm regrouping. I think I want to go to PA school.” So, um, you know, it just seemed like a good fit to allow me to maybe not have to be in school for as long and to still be able to do the things that I wanted to do, which just was to make someone better. So yeah, I ended up coming home after the end of that summer and applied to PA schools, and yeah – the rest is history.
Greg: So, you wound up back here at UAB. After that initial setting foot as a freshman, leaving, you came back. Why did you return to UAB? Was it just because it was close to home? Was it the best option for you?
Lauren: Honestly, I applied to a lot of PA programs. But growing up, like, if you wanted to practice medicine or do anything in the medical field, UAB was the place to go. It just… um… and then with my health issues, I had been – what I feel like – living at UAB for the past few years, and it had become like a second home to me. So, it just felt right. It felt like a good fit.
And the PA program was a surgical program. And I knew going into it I had always had kind of this interest in skin. And, you know, I don’t really know where that came from. People ask me – I’m not really sure. But, um, you know, their program was highly regarded. It was surgical. I loved that they offered the ability to operate on live animals, because I felt like, you know, that was really giving you that experience that you just could not get anywhere else.
And yes, it was closer to home. And my husband – at the time we were still just dating – he was a football coach at a high school, and I didn’t want to be too far away from him. Luckily, that worked out and we got married. But, um, I applied to other programs, but I believe I was the second person they interviewed that year. Yeah, it just felt right.
And honestly, my years at UAB – those two and a half years that I was there—were like the best years of my life. My husband and I still say that. My husband’s like, “Even better than when we got married and, you know, having the kids?” And I'm like… it just was… I don’t know. I didn’t get to have those typical college years in undergrad because of the health stuff. And so, it was like the college experience that I never got.
And there were only thirty two of us in our class, so we were literally together 24/7. Like, every – you know – we were all in every class, every day, all day. So it just felt right. And it ended up being the best decision.
Greg: There’s no way you could imagine that it would be that magical return. And that those were the glory years at all.
Lauren: Yeah. No, I had no idea. Just, gosh, I look back on those years, and they just really are—like, magical would be a good way to describe those.
The people that we met… and it’s so great because, you know, obviously we all go our separate ways. There are still several of my classmates in the Birmingham area. One is in neurosurgery at UAB; one’s in trauma/burns at UAB. So there are some that are still somewhat close. And, you know, we'll keep in touch. But we are all in this huge group text, and we text on holidays.
One of my classmates just got preceptor of the year for the PA program, which I would expect nothing less from him. And so, you know, we were like a family. We've all just stayed close. And I just – yeah – I honestly don’t see it being that way somewhere else. I don't know. It's kind of hard. It’s hard to explain why. It just… I don’t think my story would have happened the way it did if I had been somewhere else.
Greg: You mentioned dermatology, and you're not sure why you gravitated toward that end of the profession, but at some point you had to make that conscious decision to say, “You know what? Dermatology is where I definitely want to be now.”
Lauren: Yes. So, I will say everybody kind of thought that I would go into urology because that was my— with my health issues. And I considered it for a hot second. But, um, I just have always loved the idea… I feel like traditionally medicine is focused on making someone feel as good as they look, and we focus on improving the inside. And I loved the idea of being able to improve the way someone looks on the outside, because I feel like the outward appearance is still so deeply connected to our physical health.
And, um, I don’t really buy into that notion that improving outward appearance – whether it’s just for aesthetic reasons or for medical reasons – is a negative or superficial thing. I don’t. And so, you know, we put that on display for people to see every day. I feel like if anything, our outward appearance is what really speaks to our uniqueness. And so, you know, I want to be able to help a patient show their best self. I mean, I feel like it speaks to our experiences that we've had, the life that we've lived, and really just shows how unique each individual is. And so I love being able to improve that in whatever ways I can.
So, I mean, I do know why I went into derm, but I don't know where it started from.
Greg: When you left UAB in 2009, did you go immediately into the dermatology field?
Lauren: I did, yeah. I did. I was very blessed. One of my elective rotations was dermatology, and it was midway through our rotation year. And I came back home and worked with a dermatologist here. And when I finished that rotation in— – think it was June – she already offered me a job. She said, “When you graduate, we want you to come back and come back home.” And so I was like, “Well, gosh, this is perfect,” because my husband and I – we were engaged then at that point – and, you know, he was coaching, and I didn’t want to uproot him to have to move somewhere for me to get a job. So it was perfect. So yeah, I’ve been in dermatology for seventeen years.
Greg: You mentioned that you didn’t know what a physician assistant – a PA – did when you decided to go down that route, when you shadowed that individual in Florida. What do you do on a normal day?
Lauren: Oh, gosh. Okay. Um… well, you know, I don’t know if you're a Grey’s Anatomy fan, but this was something that – Grey's Anatomy had not been on very long when I got into PA school. So that was something that me and my classmates, we would get together like every Tuesday or Thursday, whatever day that came on, and we would literally watch Grey’s Anatomy. And we would be, you know, like, “Oh!” We’d be talking about the program and all of that.
And one of the episodes is them in the hospital going by the dermatology department, and somebody opens up the doors and it’s like heaven – you know, like it’s like ahhhh. And they go in and they're like, “Everything is so chill here, and everybody’s so happy, and they're drinking their coffees.” And, um, you know, so people could think that it is that way.
I definitely have an amazing work–life type balance. I say that, and I do a lot of stuff on the side with my career. So… um… but it is a fairly calm environment. But, um, you know, I… You know, on average, we’ll see thirty five to forty patients a day. And I’m really passionate about medical dermatology. So although I love aesthetics and do not shy away from having things done myself, I just never really got into that part in my day to day.
I love inflammatory skin diseases. I have developed conferences around that, and I develop educational content for organizations. So, um, you know, I’ll see skin exams, I diagnose skin cancers all day every day. I see psoriasis, eczema, acne, hair loss… I mean, you name it. If it’s in the dermatology space – sometimes we have patients come in for things that really aren’t dermatology. But by gosh, they waited six months to come in, so I’m going to try to do what I can.
But yeah, it’s just a full day of helping people look their best and feel their best. Like I said, I feel like that’s tied to their health.
And it’s really cool because I work in the area that I was raised. So I’m treating my friends from high school. I’m treating their parents. I’m treating their kids. I’m treating their kids’ kids in some situations. So I feel like I’m treating family, and we just have the best conversations.
My patients know I’m going to ask them, “How was your Christmas? What are you doing for summer break?” With my husband being a coach, I get a lot of the athletes and students. And so, you know, we’re going to talk about high school football and basketball and all of that.
So, um, I really feel like my day to day is just kind of like – yes, I’m treating patients, but I kind of feel like I’m just hanging out with family a lot of the time.
Greg: I'm glad that you brought up the conferences and just continuously teaching others, because I believe that's important to you—to get out there and make sure the profession advances. Why is that so meaningful, especially for somebody that's like, “I don't know where this interest even came from to begin with”?
Lauren: In this day and age, especially in dermatology, where private equity is buying up a lot of the practices, unfortunately, you know, it's all about how many patients can we get in every day and how many patients can you see every day. So people are not getting trained the way that they need to be trained. And, you know, they don't have the benefit of having a very supportive, collaborative physician. In some cases, they may not even have a physician that is in the office every day for them to ask questions if they wanted to. So I kind of took that and put it on my shoulders years ago—that I wanted to help kind of bridge that gap.
So yeah, I started getting involved with our state society and helped form that with some other colleagues. And that really was kind of one of our initial goals: yes, we wanted to help with legislation and things of that nature, but also help with education. I helped lead our first CME conference that we ever did. With my leadership with the SDPA – which is the national dermatology PA organization – you know, did the same things. And now I'm kind of doing that with organizations. I would say it’s definitely still a leadership role, just a little bit different.
But, you know, I've developed conferences from the ground up. I develop educational content on demand that you would go to a website and click on different topics that you might want to learn about. I do webinars – I mean, you name it. If I can find a way to make it fun and make it educational, then I'm gonna do it.
Greg: As that little girl from Weaver, did you ever think that you'd be doing as much as you have within dermatology – just even in general – anything else for that matter, at this point of your career?
Lauren: I really didn’t. Sometimes I forget how blessed I am to be able to do what I do. And I just was talking to my husband and said, “I honestly can't believe that this is my career and that I get paid to do this.” It's really like… I never, never envisioned that I would be doing this.
I mean, I've always known that I like to teach and that I've always kind of enjoyed public speaking. I'm a people person just naturally, so I like to be around people. But when I graduated, I just wanted to start treating patients. And I thought at the time that that's what you do – it's an eight to four, you make people better, and you go home.
I had no idea how multifaceted this career could be. Like, I've been published. I have been president of the national organization. I mean, I feel like I've hit all of these marks and goals that I set for myself after I started and realized like, “Oh my gosh, there are things that you can do outside of just treating patients all day every day.” And really, I think those things help me when it comes to patient care, because I feel like it makes me a more well rounded clinician.
Greg: What’s next?
Lauren: Oh, gosh. Um… you know, honestly, I think I'm in this era right now of just mentorship, to be honest, because I really feel like there's not a lot of things that I've set for myself that I haven't accomplished. But, you know, I tell my colleagues all the time: I want my legacy to be mentorship. So, if I can help one person reach their goals and be able to help them…
You know, early on I kind of just started looking for something to help kind of… I needed something of my own. My husband is very successful in what he does, and our life was always just his sports. And I started just – I'm very independent and very goal driven – and I started thinking, “I need something of my own.” So, I started making this vision board and coming up with goals. And I started doing these things really with no help; I just kind of figured it out. My mom taught me to be that way.
And so, in a perfect world, I would love for the people coming after me to not have to just figure it out. In some ways, yes, it builds them as a clinician. And I want them to do the work. But at the same time, if I can help in any way? It’s like giving Christmas gifts – I love it. So that's really what I'm focused on right now.
Greg: How do you balance everything – mom, wife, profession, the education end of things? Everything?
Lauren: I don't. I don’t balance it. There’s not balance. I drop lots of plates.
We had a surprise—maybe three years ago. I turned forty, had a baby, and started my presidency of a five thousand member organization, and thought to myself, “Oh my gosh, you've bit off more than you can chew.” But I was like, “You know what? I'm going to do it.” I would show up to those conferences and board meetings every month with a baby on the hip – and I did it. But I dropped a lot of plates.
If there are weeks where I have a ton of stuff professionally, I'm probably not being the best mom or wife that I can be. And vice versa. I will say I could not do it without my husband. He is the best teammate ever. And I travel a lot. I mean, sometimes I'm gone weekly. So, I would never be able to do any of this if it were not for him and his willingness to pick up the slack for me. So, I would love to say that I balance it – but I do not. I do not. There is no balance.
Greg: Biggest piece of advice for somebody in UAB’s PA program—what would it be?
Lauren: I would say: figure out what you're passionate about. And it might not be right now. It might take you a year or two of being in practice. I mean, there's not a ton of people in our class that hasn’t switched jobs in the seventeen years. So, you know, figure out what you're passionate about.
There are going to be some people that all they want to do is practice from eight to four and go home – and that is completely okay. Figure out what it is that's going to bring you joy and fulfillment and just do it. Don’t wait for somebody to offer help. You’ve got to go out and ask for it.
That's probably what I tell everybody in every lecture that I do. They'll say, “How did you do that? How did you get to do this?” And I say, “I just asked.” I went and asked somebody: “Will you publish a paper with me? Can I work with you on this?” Or “I'd love to be involved on the board. Will you let me know if something comes open?” I mean, literally those are the things that I would do.
So, it's just not being scared to go after what you want. And don’t let someone else tell you what that is. Go after what you want and just enjoy it. This is the best profession.
Honestly, I can't imagine – people say all the time, “Why didn’t you go to medical school? Do you wish you did?” No. I do not. This is what I was meant to do.
Greg: That's Lauren Miller. Lauren earned her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from UAB’s School of Health Professions in 2008. Today, she's a dermatology physician assistant and educator. She's proof that detours can lead to destinations worth celebrating and has a great idea of what it means to be a Blazer.
Lauren: I feel like UAB – to me – is… when I think of UAB, I think of potential and everything that's out there that is just waiting to happen. UAB’s always been at the front of, you know, all of these medical breakthroughs. And, you know, they're at the top when it comes to these new therapies that come out, and the best of the best when it comes to medical professionals. Um, I just – I think of hope and potential and, like, the sky is the limit to me when I think of UAB.
Greg: Thanks for tuning in to UAB Green and Told. You can catch up on all of our episodes at alumni.uab.edu, on Spotify, or the Apple Podcast app.
Got an idea for a guest? We'd love to hear it. Email us at greenandtold@uab.edu and stay connected by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks for listening, and as always – Go Blazers.