How Allergan's DREAM Initiative Is Shaping Skin of Color Care for Aesthetic NPs
Dermatology offers a rich opportunity for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) who are eager to specialize and expand their expertise. With advances in aesthetic medicine and a growing emphasis on inclusive representation, initiatives like Allergan’s DREAM Initiative are playing a crucial role in reshaping the way beauty is portrayed and practiced. In this article, I explain the details and significance of the DREAM Initiative and the implications for dermatology nursing, education, and research; including recommendations for DNP Projects and PhD nurse-led research.
Who Is Allergan?
Allergan Aesthetics is well known in modern dermatology and aesthetic medicine. Best known for products like Botox® Cosmetic, Juvederm®, and SkinMedica®, the company has long served as a leader in the aesthetics space. But what many may not realize is that Allergan Aesthetics is now an AbbVie company, a strategic move that has significantly shaped the trajectory of its mission and offerings. In 2020, AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical powerhouse known for therapies in immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and beyond, acquired Allergan. This acquisition allowed AbbVie to expand into medical aesthetics, and Allergan Aesthetics now operates as a specialized division under the AbbVie umbrella. That merger fortified Allergan’s foundation, amplifying its reach, resources, and ability to impact dermatology nurse practitioners (NPs) and patients around the world.
What Does Allergan Do?
Allergan Aesthetics invests heavily in provider education, clinical research, and public health initiatives. The company supports healthcare professionals through ongoing education, fosters the next generation of aesthetic leaders, and funds projects that address disparities in care, especially in underserved and underrepresented communities. Whether through hands-on training, virtual learning platforms, or multi-disciplinary research funding, Allergan aims to ensure that dermatology NPs are not only skilled but also culturally sensitive and equipped to increase access to care and reduce misdiagnoses, under diagnoses, delayed treatment, and ensure safe delivery of care to skin of color patients.
Target Audience
Allergan targets a broad spectrum of professionals, including dermatologists, plastic surgeons, NPs, and physician assistants. Increasingly, Allergan has also begun to recognize the influence and importance of Advance Practice Providers (APPs) in both clinical care and patient education. This is a trend in dermatology across multiple entities. In the aesthetics world, where relationships, trust, and representation matter, Allergan’s expanded focus ensures that more voices and experiences are reflected in the industry.
What Is the DREAM Initiative?
The DREAM Initiative, short for Driving Racial Equity in Aesthetic Medicine, is Allergan Aesthetics' bold and timely step toward reshaping how equity is approached in aesthetic medicine. Launched as a strategic multi-year initiative, DREAM centers around dismantling barriers to access, education, and representation that disproportionately affect providers and communities of color.
Who Founded It and Why?
The DREAM Initiative was founded by leaders within Allergan in collaboration with advisory boards composed of diverse clinicians and key thought partners. At its heart, the program emerged from a recognition of the well-reported inequities present in aesthetic medicine from underrepresentation in clinical trials and provider training to marketing that often overlooks patients with skin of color. DREAM was developed as both a response and a call to action. Its founders understood that equity in aesthetic medicine couldn’t be achieved without intentional, sustained effort and that they had both the responsibility and the resources to implement solutions.
Mission and Vision of the Program
The mission of DREAM is clear: to promote racial equity in aesthetic medicine by increasing access, representation, and education for both providers and patients of color. The project aims to create a future where all patients feel seen, understood, and safe seeking aesthetic care, and where providers from all backgrounds have equitable opportunities to learn, grow, and lead.
Key Aspects and Services
DREAM encompasses a variety of initiatives and services designed to address racial inequities in aesthetics. These include scholarships and mentorship programs for aspiring aesthetic providers of color, inclusive marketing efforts that reflect the beauty of all skin tones, and the development of education and training resources that address the unique needs of patients with skin of color. DREAM also supports community outreach programs and data collection efforts aimed at improving representation in research and clinical trials.
To challenge the longstanding lack of representation in aesthetics, The DREAM Initiative® collaborated with Shutterstock Studios to create an expansive, inclusive visual library. There you'll find hundreds of diverse models capturing beauty as defined by the individuals themselves. The result is a powerful collection of diverse images of race, culture, gender, age, and body type that you can download for a fee.
Implications for Nursing
For nurse practitioners and nurses working in dermatology and aesthetics, the DREAM Initiative represents an opportunity to step into leadership roles in equity-centered care. It opens doors to scholarships, speaking opportunities, research collaborations, and patient advocacy platforms. More importantly, it signals to the industry that nurses and NPs are and always have been key stakeholders in conversations about access, safety, and representation.
For DNP students, one potential quality improvement project could focus on increasing access to aesthetic education for NPs. This project could assess barriers to entry and create policies and standard operating procedures for providing equitable educational resources. Another area for exploration is assessing cultural sensitivity in aesthetic practices or dermatology NP fellowship and training programs, aiming to ensure that NPs are equipped to provide culturally sensitive care. Additionally, embedding patient education tools into the practice website or mobile application that reflect diverse beauty standards can empower patients and foster a more inclusive environment in dermatology practices.
For PhD-prepared nurse scientists, researchers could explore how racial identity, socioeconomic status, and provider bias impact aesthetic outcomes and patient satisfaction. Research could also investigate the long-term psychological effects of inclusive aesthetic care on self-image and mental health, particularly among marginalized communities. These studies would provide valuable insights into the intersection of healthcare, aesthetics, and equity, ultimately contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of how dermatology practices can better serve diverse populations.
Gaps That Remain
While the DREAM Initiative is an important step forward, there are still many questions to be explored. How will impact be measured over time? Will the program evolve into an industry-wide model, or remain tied to Allergan’s brand? How can NPs be more meaningfully integrated into the initiative’s leadership and evaluation strategies? And perhaps most importantly, how do we ensure that equity in aesthetics doesn’t become a trend, but a permanent standard?
As we continue this work, one thing is certain: representation matters, and equity must be intentional. The DREAM Initiative offers an exciting blueprint—but it’s up to all of us, especially nurse leaders, to help bring that blueprint to life.
I am a nurse practitioner entrepreneur who specializes in dermatology nursing education and research with an emphasis on skin of color. I created this blog to share my journey as a source of motivation and as a blueprint, as you embark on your journey. Most importantly, I’m looking forward to increasing access to dermatology education and clinical training for aspiring and practicing nurse practitioners. I invite you to view the mission and vision statement on the homepage to see how we can best partner to make our dreams align.
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