Safety of Cosmeceuticals

Hera is currently a chief resident at University of Arkansas, Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock Arkansas. She will be practicing in Cary, North Carolina starting August 2025.

Hera went to medical school at California Northstate University and was a clinical research fellow 2019-2020 at UC Davis and Integrative Skin Science and Research. She is actively pursuing a medical career that focuses on integrative, whole body health, and developing her own understanding and research on the needs of modern population of diverse peoples and unique solutions that work and are safe for use. She is committed to finding the bridge between hard evidence-based science and compassionate patient centered care throughout her medical training. She has interests in cultural shifts that investigate meaning in medicine and medical education as she has been active participant in meditation programs, was on the Wellness Committee, and was a student director of “Healer’s Art” program at her medical school, and is 40-hour training certified Domestic Violence Issues Advocate for the My Sister’s House (a culturally competent program for Asian and Pacific Islander advocacy for those impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking). Another major research project she undertook was investigation of the Gut-Brain-Immunity connection through looking at modulation of T cell function by serotonin. She also has experience working in the bioengineering industry working with 3D tissue engineering, 3D cell cultures, cellulosic biofuel research.

Hera is from Manhattan, Kansas or “The Little Apple,” and went to UC Berkeley for undergraduate education. She plans on pursuing a career in dermatology with interests in integrative approaches and differences in pathology within dermatology in ethnic skin.

Keira Barr, MD is an innovator in transformative wellness, combining her work in integrative dermatology, mind-body medicine and embodied education with body-based trauma healing approaches to skin health. As a speaker,author, and host of “The Skinny Dipping Rx” podcast, Dr. Keira teaches people around the world how to relieve stress and rejuvenate from within. She created the Somatic Skincare™ method to support her mission of revolutionizing skincare as an act of radical self-care, blending science with soul to help women around the world amplify their resilience, confidence and comfort in their skin. Her expertise, bridging the gap between skin health and mental health, has earned recognition in top media outlets like MindBodyGreen, Glamour, SELF and Oprah magazines as well as prestigious medical journals.