By Michael Meyer

Most people know Will Kirby, DO, as "Dr. Will," the winner of season two of the reality show Big Brother and a frequent guest on a variety of TV shows, from The Doctors to The Price Is Right. And while he's conquered the mainstream with his charm and charisma, he's taken on a less visible but hugely important role as the chief medical officer of LaserAway, a national chain of medical spas with a focus on laser treatments.

"Aesthetic energy-based treatments offer immediate or nearly immediate gratification," Kirby says. "It's extremely rewarding to see the positive benefits of your work in the short term. Better still, with no morbidity or mortality, we differ from every other medical speciality because our voluntary, elective treatments make patients happy."

Kirby has been involved in medical aesthetics since early in his dermatology career, and he is enthusiastic about using his position with LaserAway to bring his clinical knowledge to the providers at the chain's numerous locations. He feels that the chain's focus on laser treatments helps create a safer environment for patients.

"It's a common misconception that practice imparts expertise," Kirby says. "It's actually much more nuanced in that it's purposeful practice with active feedback and the incorporation of those suggested improvements that ultimately curates wisdom. Yes, our 15 years of experience makes us leaders in the field, but only in the sense that we constantly seek feedback and we strive to improve based on those findings. From data analytics and electronic patient reviews to information gathered from our dermatologist advisors and clinician perception studies, we are in a perpetual improvement cycle. Because we offer a limited number of treatments we can determine the gold-standard means by which to implement world-class aesthetic care in the specific laser categories we offer."

Kirby has been in his position at LaserAway since 2015, and in that time, he has seen some important innovations that will make energy-based treatments even more popular by making them accessible to more patients.

"The single most important evolutionary jump that has occurred in the last few years is that many lasers are now safe and effective for all six skin types," Kirby says. "Our clinicians represent every national origin, and our patient demographic closely mirrors our medical staff, plus our clinics are located in ethnically diverse cities, so the fact that we can now safely and effectively treat a diverse patient population is a wonderful trend that is here to stay."
Despite this, he still sees room for improvement, particularly when it comes to the integration of energy equipment with modern communication technology.

"Practices should be able to monitor devices remotely via Bluetooth, upgrade software over the cloud and easily switch out hardware, when necessary," says Kirby. "The future of aesthetics via energy-based devices is very bright, but manufacturers need to put as much energy into modernizing the interfaces and integrating communication capabilities as they do into the creation of the inner workings of the boxes."

And while it may not seem that clinical work can compare to the glitz and glamour of being a reality television star, Kirby feels deeply fulfilled by his work with LaserAway.

"I wake up every day thrilled to go to work, because I get to educate clinicians with my experience, treat patients with my hands and evaluate new technologies with my mind," Kirby says. "I joined LaserAway because the team there puts a premium emphasis on ethics, diversity and inclusivity—all things that are important to me. Moreover, life is too short to work with people you don't love. It might sound like a clich√©, but we really are a family, and while we work hard, we laugh a lot, too!"

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