A Journey from Pain to Purpose
September 1, 2025
Inspired by her personal journey, Ayisha Mahama is training in dermatology to bring hope and care to Central Texas patients.
In the clinic, empathy has always driven Dr. Ayisha Mahama forward.
That’s because in college, when most young people are coming to terms with who they are and how they look, the 29-year-old began losing entire sections of her hair due to central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia. What followed were years spent in clinics listening to doctors and coming to terms with the condition. As a young Black woman, Dr. Mahama couldn’t help but feel like she was losing an important part of herself.
But it was those experiences which shaped her identity, and it was that journey which also led her to medicine, driving her to Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, where the Houston native was a part of the medical school’s fourth graduating class in 2023.
That same year she matched with the school’s medical residency program in dermatology. In the very field she vowed to make a difference.
Transforming Health Care in Travis County
Dr. Mahama’s residency will keep her training in Central Texas for another four years, giving her an opportunity to provide care for residents who need it most. And she’s one among 243 resident physicians and fellows across 12 programs in CommUnityCare Health Centers clinics in 2025. Dell Med’s medical residency program provides doctors with hands-on training in specific areas of medicine, ultimately preparing them to become licensed in their fields of expertise.
That’s exactly the type of outcome taxpayers supported when they voted “Yes” to Proposition 1 in 2012, leading to the creation of a world-class medical school in Travis County.
“My future practice as a dermatologist, what that looks like is this,” Dr. Mahama said, “I’m really interested in hair and scalp disorders and skin of color – just with my personal experience.”
Now in her second year of training as a resident with CommUnityCare at Central Health’s Southeast Health & Wellness Center, with an expected completion date in 2027, Dr. Mahama is preparing for a future in the very specialty she aimed to help treat and diagnose.
A Public Health Mission
Dr. Mahama is no stranger to health care or the complex issues that often surround it. As a teenager, she walked into a system of hospitals in the Houston area when her mother, a labor and delivery nurse, faced undiagnosed issues of her own.
“We went to so many different doctors around town, and we never really got any answers,” Dr. Mahama said. “And for me, being like 13, that was really scary.”
Over a decade later, Dr. Mahama’s path led her to medical school. During her time at Dell Med, she worked at C.D. Doyle, a student-run, free clinic supported by Dell Med at the Esperanza Community Center in Southeast Austin that supports uninsured or underinsured patients. Since then, Dr. Mahama’s long-term ambition has been to remain in a public health setting.
At the Central Health Southeast Health & Wellness Clinic where Dr. Mahama treats patients enrolled in Central Health’s Medical Access Program (MAP), an important part of her personal mission deals with driving health equity forward.
Since 2019, residents have continued their journeys with CommUnityCare, too. The Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) has hired 15 residents across internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and OBGYN.
Laser-Focused on Care
Now a resident physician in-training, Dr. Mahama’s focus has turned her focus to the myriad of conditions that affect patients in dermatology, including complex skin disorders, hair conditions, acne, severe psoriasis, and eczema. She is one of a growing number of doctors providing care to patients with low income in Austin and Travis County, contributing to a rapid expansion of services and resources that will aim to fill long-standing gaps in the safety-net health care system. In just the past year, Central Health has launched 16 new specialty care service lines for members of MAP. In the coming year, Central Health is planning to expand further, investing almost $100 million in CommUnityCare to bolster the local FQHC at a time when federal and state funding are increasingly in question. These dollars will ensure patients across the county will have access to the care and services they need to be healthy.
Through her work, Dr. Mahama has contributed to the Central Health system’s goal of reducing wait times, delivering value, and providing health care for those who traditionally don’t have access to it. Today, over 100 physicians-in-training provide care inside the Southeast Health & Wellness center across internal medicine, family medicine, dermatology, psychiatry, and cardiovascular disease.
“Many of my patients can breathe such a sigh of relief,” Dr. Mahama said. “They understand things better. They feel reassured. They know they’re in good hands and we’re going to give them the care they need.”
Providing Care and Empathy
Most importantly, Dr. Mahama says, is that her patients can feel a level of comfort during what can be a stressful situation. Through her own experience, she knows that.
“I’ve become a much more empathetic, more holistic, a more understanding physician,” she said. “And for me, that’s what I’ve always wanted to be as a doctor. I want to be understanding. I want to be non-judgmental, because that’s really important for patients.
Sometimes, Dr. Mahama says, all it takes is a little understanding.
“I always think of it this way,” she said. “Patients are coming here for one day out of the year. The least I can do is give my patient my all, because I want to make sure they feel heard.”