Dr. Nancy E. Jasso

For many people with tattoos, it’s actually life threatening to them to walk the streets. If they happen to have the wrong tattoo in the wrong neighborhood, then that means they might get shot, and they may not make it to the next day. In addition, it’s very difficult for them to secure employment when they have tattoos. There’s lots of value judgments about having tattoos, lots of concern for safety, and what their affiliations might be with either gangs or drugs, and so many people cannot get employed if they have tattoos. I have a lot of respect for the patients in the Tattoo Clinic. These are patients who are really trying to change their lives, and change is hard. And yet they’ve been courageous enough to actually try to put their life on a different track. So I figure anything that I can do to be helpful to them, I'm very willing to do.

Well, I think fundamentally, being a physician is really an honor. It’s really a privilege to walk that path with another human being. People come in because they’re suffering and they’re in need of help, and I have the privilege of being there to try to assist them. And I really do see it like a partnership. It’s not really a one-way street. I certainly have my bag of tricks and all of the years of study under my belt, but it really takes kind of the two of us working together to really come up with something that’s going to help them.