Jessica Hunter-Orange MD CCFP DipPDerm

William M. Glenn

On the day she received her Certification in family medicine, back in June 2007, Dr Jessica Hunter-Orange says she had “grand plans to be an awesome family doctor.”

She says she “loved” her locum at the Byron Family Medical Centre in London, Ont. Next, she joined a “busy and rewarding” practice with a good friend from medical school, Dr Julie Tripp. And she’ll “never give up” her half-day a week with the family planning clinic operated by the Middlesex-London Health Unit.

But something unforeseen happened. “I liked doing minor surgery and my mentor at Byron encouraged me to do some postgrad work in dermatology,” says Dr Hunter-Orange. So she took an intensive 1-year course with Cardiff University in Wales—“I was really surprised how much I learned”—eventually earning a Diploma of Practical Dermatology.

“Julie and I set up a little dermatology clinic on the side, mostly for friends and colleagues, and we were astounded by the response,” says Dr Hunter-Orange. “There were only 5 dermatologists in all of London and only 1 in nearby Sarnia. The wait time to get in and see one was up to 9 months.”

Today, she, Dr Tripp, and a new associate, Dr Jennifer Andrade, operate the London Skin Disorders Clinic. That means she sees a lot of acne, psoriasis, and eczema. She also performs “a ton of biopsies” for skin cancer, as well as precancer screening and full-body skin examinations, looking for the warning signs of carcinogenic sun damage.

“It’s the fastest growing cancer in all of Canada and a huge part of our practice. About half the patients I see every day are worried about, have, or have had skin cancer,” Dr Hunter-Orange says. Skin cancer doesn’t discriminate on the basis of age or sex or where it might first appear on the body. In the past year, she’s seen both a 16-year-old girl and a 90-year-old man diagnosed with malignant melanoma.

“I did not set out to be what I am. This was not the plan,” she shakes her head. “But over the last almost 4 years we have built a huge and successful clinic. I’m very happy and I love my patients. We’re very proud to be, first and foremost, family physicians, with a focused practice in dermatology.”

“I did not set out to be what I am”

PHOTOS: Dr Hunter-Orange enjoying some of her favourite activities, running and reading, and (left) with her daughter, Sydney Orange (taken by her husband, Derek Orange).

Footnotes

Dr Hunter-Orange is a family physician with a GP focused practice designation in dermatology working at the London Skin Disorders Clinic and the Middlesex-London Health Unit in London, Ont.
THE COVER PROJECT Canadian Family Physician has embarked on a project to assemble the portrait of family medicine in Canada. Each cover of the journal features a family physician chosen at random from our membership list, along with a short essay—a brief glimpse of the person and the practice. Over time, the randomness will become representative and the differences, taken together, will define what it is that all family physicians have in common.