Panacea Dermatology offers many services to area clients

CHANUTE -- Local physician Christy Parham-Vetter opened a full-service dermatology clinic last year, giving Southeast Kansas residents the opportunity for improved health care.

Panacea Dermatology, PA, opened its doors in January 2006, at 321 E. Main St. in Chanute. In September of that year, Vetter added a satellite clinic at Labette Health (formerly known as Labette County Medical Center) in Parsons, according to a statement from agency administrative assistant Sue Jobe.

"We provide a full range of dermatology services," Vetter said.

Services the health agency provides include general dermatology, pediatric dermatology, cutaneous oncology, dermatology surgery, and skin cancer screening.

Vetter's Chanute facility is shared with her father, Verdon Parham, a physician who also practices at Panacea Family Medicine, PA. Parham has practiced medicine in Chanute for 26 years.

In June 2006, Vetter added another facility, called The Cosmetic Center of Panacea Dermatology, located at 326 E. Main St., Chanute. The cosmetic center offers many services, including spray tanning, facial peels, Botox injections, skin rejuvenation, sclerotherapy, and other skin health services.

Vetter's interest in dermatology became evident while attending the University of North Carolina, Jobe said. This interest, along with Vetter's desire to return home, led to the formation of Panacea Dermatology.

"I started doing skin cancer prevention and epidemiology research in North Carolina and became interested in a broad range of clinical dermatology," Vetter said.

Amy West, a certified physician's assistant, has been with Vetter since Panacea Dermatology opened. West is a native of Wichita, where she graduated from Wichita State University's Physican Assistant Program in 2001. She previously practiced in Medicine Lodge, Kan. Her husband, Travis, is a native of Iola, and the couple are excited to be living in Chanute with their two children, Taylor and Ethan.

"I enjoyed dermatology when I worked in family medicine and felt it was my calling," West said.

Vetter is a Chanute native, and she graduated from Rockhurst University in Kansas City with a degree in biology. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a medical degree in 1996.

After medical school, Vetter obtained a master's degree in medical ethics from Loyola University of Chicago, and a master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is board certified in general preventive medicine and public health, and specializes in skin cancer prevention and epidemiology. She completed a residency and research fellowship in dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

While attending college there, she worked as an instructor in dermatology at the university's medical school. She is also an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she taught courses in Epidemiology and Society and Medicine at the medical school there.

Vetter is also a board member for Castaways Animal Shelter, and some of her other hobbies include photography, wine tasting and travel.

"It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to move back home to Chanute and provide Southeast Kansas with full-time dermatology services," Vetter said.