The People Behind The Standard.
The MedSpa Board was founded by a physician, a data scientist, a medspa attorney, and a media veteran who saw the same problem from four different angles: an industry booming with patient demand and too little independent oversight. Our advisory board brings the clinical, legal, and operational expertise that keeps our certification standard honest.
Our Founders.
Kate Dee, MD
Dr. Kate Dee is the founder and CEO of MedSpa Board and the physician behind Glow Medispa in Seattle. She earned her BS in Biology from Yale University in 1989 and her MD from Yale University School of Medicine in 1994, then completed a residency in Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Washington and a fellowship in Breast Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. She spent 16 years practicing breast imaging — including time on faculty at the University of Washington and as a breast imaging physician at Seattle Breast Center — before transitioning into aesthetic medicine, a field she has now practiced for 12 years. That clinical background, diagnosing disease for over a decade and a half, is part of what shaped her insistence on real medical oversight in an industry where it's too often optional; she founded MedSpa Board after seeing firsthand how little medical oversight exists in an industry booming with patient demand. She's the author of Medspa Mayhem and hosts the Medspa Confidential podcast, where she covers the safety issues, legal gray areas, and business realities of running a medspa.
Spike Seldin
Spike Seldin is a veteran film and television producer and production executive whose career spans over three decades in Hollywood. He served as a production executive on major theatrical releases including Mission: Impossible, Face/Off, Deep Impact, The Italian Job, and The Saint, and produced the 2010 feature film The A-Team, along with numerous other television movies and series. He brings that media and industry experience to MedSpa Board as a co-founder, leading public outreach. After reading Medspa Mayhem in 2024, Spike was struck by two things: he urged Dr. Dee to found the organization she'd envisioned while writing the book, and he saw the makings of a great Netflix docudrama in her story. Stay tuned.
Margaret Sherman
Margaret Sherman is a tech industry leader with more than 20 years of experience, bringing passion and innovation to data strategy and product development. As Head of Data Strategy at Sonos, she drove the vision, roadmap, and execution of data-driven initiatives that elevated the customer experience, strengthened business performance, and embedded a data-driven culture across the organization. She has launched and scaled data products and platforms, drawing on expertise in agile project management, data analytics, machine learning, AI, and software development. Alongside this, she has built and led high-performing teams of data scientists, engineers, and product managers, cultivating a collaborative, inclusive environment where creativity and experimentation thrive. She is driven by a mission to harness the power of data to create meaningful, delightful user experiences and to drive excellence. She holds a Master’s Degree from MIT and a B.S. from the University of Washington.
Courtney Walker, JD
Courtney Walker, JD, is a co-founder of MedSpa Board and serves as Chief Legal Officer. She graduated as valedictorian from Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law and holds an undergraduate degree in Agribusiness Management from Tennessee Technological University. Licensed to practice in Tennessee since 2018, she began her career in the office of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam before practicing transactional law at Gentry, Tipton & McLemore. She went on to co-found and serve as Chief Legal Officer of Smiley Aesthetics, a multi-location aesthetics company — giving her operator-level insight into the industry she now helps regulate. Her practice focuses on corporate law, medical aesthetics, business formation and governance, and mergers and acquisitions; she was named a Mid-South Rising Star by Super Lawyers in M&A (2023) and a Cityview Top Attorney (2022–2023).
Our Advisory Board.
James Collyer, MD
Dr. James Collyer practices at Modern Dermatology in Seattle, WA, and is board-certified by the American Board of Dermatology. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University, his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and completed his residency at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He has 18 years of experience in dermatology, with a practice spanning acne treatment and scarring, injectables (Botox, Kybella), PRP hair-loss treatment, laser and light-based skin treatments, facial rejuvenation, and body contouring.
Yael Halaas, MD
Dr. Yael Halaas is a facial plastic surgeon in New York, NY, double board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She earned her undergraduate degree in Art History from Columbia University and her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, graduating in the top ten percent of her class. She completed her surgical internship and otolaryngology residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she now serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor, and pursued fellowship training through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, she specializes in facelifts, rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery, and hair restoration, and is recognized as a leading facial plastic surgeon in New York City. Dr. Halaas's practice spans the full spectrum from non-invasive facial aesthetics to plastic surgery; the plastic surgery side of her practice is fully accredited by Quad A. She has helped spearhead the certification process for the non-invasive side of facial aesthetics.
Evan Sampson, JD
Evan M. Sampson is Counsel with Post & Schell, P.C.'s Health Care Practice Group, where he advises medspas, dermatology practices, and other medical aesthetics providers on the legal and regulatory issues affecting their businesses. With more than a decade of experience as both in-house and outside counsel, he counsels clients on corporate practice of medicine compliance, scope of practice and delegation issues, HIPAA privacy and emerging health technology, and workplace health and safety. He also advises clients on practice start-ups, ownership structures, and strategic growth initiatives. Prior to joining the firm, he served as in-house counsel to a national plastic surgery organization and as a Senior Privacy/Compliance Officer for the nation's largest municipal hospital system. Evan's background as a healthcare attorney who specializes in medical spas made him an ideal partner in shaping the medical-legal guidance behind MedSpa Board's certification program.
Todd Schlifstein, DO
Dr. Todd Schlifstein earned his undergraduate degree in Clinical Nutrition from Cornell University and his medical degree from NYCOM on Long Island. He completed his internship at Long Beach Medical Center and his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at NYU, where he served as chief resident, later maintaining a private practice and clinical instructor role at NYU Medical Center until 2008. In 2009 he founded Fountain Medical Group and Fountain MedSpa; he now consults medspas nationally on launching and scaling their businesses, covering staff training, compliance, financial planning, and social media strategy.
Jaime Weiland, NP — “The Legal NP”
Jaime Weiland, NP, is a board-certified legal nurse consultant known as The Legal NP, bringing a nurse practitioner's clinical perspective together with expertise on the legal and regulatory side of medical practice. She is the author of Chart Like a Lawyer: Legal-Proof Documentation for Nurses & NPs, which teaches clinicians how to document care in a way that holds up legally. Her expertise bridges the world of medicine, nursing, and legal compliance.
Shonra Weiss, NP
Shonra Weiss, NP, is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Aesthera MedSpa, a concierge aesthetics practice she co-founded in 2020 in Pismo Beach, CA, where she also serves as primary clinical provider. She earned her BSN in 1997 from Saint Mary's–Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, CA, later completed a master's degree in adult general medicine, and became a board-certified nurse practitioner in 2019. Over more than twenty years in nursing, she has worked in cardiac critical care, general ICU, and perioperative/PACU settings before moving into aesthetics. She has a special interest in medical-legal issues and participates in California Nursing Board investigations.
Want to Get Involved?
Whether you're a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, attorney, or medspa owner who believes patients deserve real medical oversight, we'd love to hear from you.
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