DR. RACHEL
ASINIWASIS
MD, MSHS, FRCPC, FAAD
Dr. Rachel Netahe Asiniwasis is a Canadian dermatologist and clinician-researcher practicing in her hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan. She completed her residency at the University of Toronto and is the current founder and medical director of Origins Dermatology Centre, a centre built to serve the general population while also delivering a modern, team-based care hybrid model that integrates in-person dermatology and virtual care/teledermatology services, including care designed to be accessible for rural and Indigenous communities.
Dr. Asiniwasis holds a Master of Science in Health Sciences (MSHS) in Clinical and Translational Research from GWU (Washington, DC.). Her professional reputation reflects an approach grounded in thoughtful leadership, strong clinical judgment, practical innovation, and the ability to connect and translate advanced systems-level thinking to real patient needs. She is known for perceptiveness, intuition, quick thinking, and a “think outside the box” mindset, paired with a distinctly western personal style.
Dr. Asiniwasis is biracial and is of Plains Cree and Saulteaux heritage (her father is from Muscowpetung First Nation) and English heritage (her mother’s side of the family from Manchester, England). Her areas of interest include medical dermatology, inflammatory skin disease, the skin barrier, medical education, translational research, clinical trials, public and equitable access to therapeutics, patient advocacy, skin of colour, Indigenous health, and improving dermatologic care for rural and underserved communities.
ORIGINS DERMATOLOGY CENTRE
Origins Dermatology Centre is a multiple disciplinary centre focused on medical dermatology and inflammatory dermatoses, delivering care to a wide and diverse patient population through a hybrid model of in-person and virtual care. The clinic’s operational philosophy emphasizes practical, patient-centered solutions supporting care continuity, and accessibility while maintaining high clinical standards.
VISIONS CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL HEALTH RESEARCH, INC.
Dr. Asiniwasis is developing Visions Clinical and Translational Health Research, Inc., an emerging company located across the street from Origins Dermatology Centre intended to address real-world needs in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape. Visions aims to bridge gaps across the translational research spectrum and is in the process of establishing its mission and Board of Directors.
CLINICIAN-RESEARCHER
Rachel holds a Master’s of Science in Health Sciences in Clinical and Translational Research and has experience in observational, mixed-methods and interventional studies. More recently, she has been developing a centre of excellence for dermatologic clinical trials. Her publications and academic interests are publicly available through her ResearchGate profile.
ResearchGate ProfileACADEMIC
Dr. Asiniwasis is an Associate Professor with the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, and an Adjunct Professor at First Nations University of Canada. She is an in-demand elective host for universities and other institutions across North America. She has held past leadership roles including Dermatology Undergraduate Medical Education Module Director and Dermatology Residency Program Director at the University of Saskatchewan-University of Alberta program.
CONSULTANT AND KEY OPINION LEADER
She has consulted for numerous healthcare and related companies, primarily in areas related to inflammatory skin disease, skin of color, and Indigenous health, contributing clinical expertise, practical insights, and patient-centered perspectives.
EARLY ROOTS: REGINA, FAMILY, AND THE START OF A WORK ETHIC
Rachel’s story is rooted in southern Saskatchewan. She was born and raised in Regina, attending both elementary school and high school there. From a young age, she was recognized as highly self-disciplined and deeply focused on her education and future direction.
One of her earliest personal stories - one she still recalls clearly - comes from around age five: her Grandma (Kokum) Lucy taking her to Dairy Queen during lunchtime in kindergarten. Even in those early years, she remembers consistently keeping an eye on the clock and making sure she and her brother were ready and out the door on time for afternoon classes! It’s a small story, but it captures something consistent in Rachel’s life: a natural sense of responsibility, organization, and forward momentum.
In high school and into undergraduate studies, Rachel worked for several years at McDonald’s starting from age 16, including early-morning 5 AM weekend shifts and weekday evening shifts. She speaks warmly about that time and credits it with building practical skills and confidence. She advanced steadily from the ‘fries and drive-thru girl’ front-line roles to Crew Trainer, Team Leader, and Swing Manager, and was even offered an opportunity to attend Hamburger University in Illinois!
However, her career path shifted when she entered medical school. Early on, she was interested in Internal Medicine and subdisciplines, and she later discovered dermatology comparatively “late” in her medical training (something she links to training in a region that had limited dermatology exposure due to longstanding workforce scarcity). Like many people outside the specialty, she initially had a very different idea of what dermatology was; she once imagined a dermatologist as primarily a laboratory scientist developing products like sunscreen. Her understanding evolved quickly. Dermatology became compelling to her because it sits at the intersection of internal and external health, and because it offers powerful opportunities to improve health, confidence, quality of life, and equity - especially for patients and communities who have historically had less access to specialist care.
Grandma Lucy (Kokum) valued what she had, and raised great children and grandchildren.
VOLUNTEERISM AND SERVICE
Dr. Asiniwasis has an extensive record of service outside of direct patient care. Some highlights include:
AWARDS AND
RECOGNITION
Rachel has received numerous awards across her career. Some include:
MEDIA &
MEMBERSHIPS
Dr. Asiniwasis has participated in interviews or media articles with a wide range of outlets and organizations, including:
Dr. Asiniwasis’s professional memberships include:
BEING A DERMATOLOGIST IN A CRITICALLY UNDERSERVICED AREA
Building a dermatology practice in a critically underserved area has required sustained commitment and long-term planning. During residency, Rachel had interest in pursuing a fellowship in hair medicine, but financial realities at the time made that path impossible to pursue. When she returned to Regina from Toronto to start practice, she made practical decisions to stabilize and build, initially living with her parents before later moving into her own space with her one-eyed cat, Uno. Her early years in practice were marked by the same realistic, resourceful approach she has brought to building clinical services in the region.
She named her clinic “Origins Dermatology Centre” because it was truly built grassroots-style from the ground up in a critically under-serviced region with longstanding limited access to specialist dermatologic care, limited resources, and a lack of subsidized space for clinical dermatology. As the first new full-time dermatologist (medical & general dermatology) in many years in her region, she began practice at a time when only two dermatologists served a large portion of southern Saskatchewan. Within six months, demand for services grew rapidly, and wait times reached approximately two years. Due to this intense and large-scale demand, we had to remove Origins Dermatology Centre from search engines such as Google Maps due to the extreme volume of calls and requests we received a day that we couldn’t accommodate with our limited resources! In response, Dr. Asiniwasis and her growing team focused on building sustainability and capacity in a setting where dermatology infrastructure had been limited, progressing from the early, practical stages of establishing a clinic providing general and surgical dermatology services to a now growing and flourishing centre with an increasing focus on medical dermatology, clinical research and inflammatory skin disease. After years of hard and dedicated work, we are now ready to unveil our model, “Origins Dermatology Centre” which has truly been home grown from the ground up!
WORK STYLE AND PERSONAL INTERESTS
Rachel is recognized by peers, colleagues, and staff as someone with exceptionally high standards and a strong work ethic (sometimes described as “hardcore,” in a way that reflects intensity, focus, seriousness, and follow-through). She is often most comfortable in quiet, uninterrupted working time - whether in her office, or at home - where she can think, plan, and execute.
She has a strong appreciation for practical routines that support efficiency and consistency (including preferred writing tools and specific comfort items that make busy days run smoothly). She’s well known among those close to her for small, signature preferences, like the need for ambient lighting or having a Pepsi, iced black tea, or Mountain Dew nearby.
When she is not working, she enjoys camping and spending time outdoors, cycling, reading non-fiction, photography, strategy games, and road trips. She has a longstanding interest in the meaning of her last name, “Stone Child,” and collects rocks and minerals as an amateur geologist. She adores her barn-cat rescue, Jinks, from rural Saskatchewan, and she often shares affectionate memories of Uno, her late cat who joined her life early in residency and accompanied her through many major milestones and adventures. She is also a supporter of cat rescue initiatives, including organizations such as the Blind Cat Rescue. In her creative life, she is working on a fiction/non-fiction horror project (“Horror Shorts”), bringing together storytelling with real themes and experiences.
