by JANA WILSON
As a young girl growing up in Jamaica, Dr. Karen Reid- Renner wanted to be a missionary nurse. After she moved to the United States with her family in the early 1970s, Reid- Renner’s professional life took a slightly different trajectory when she realized she could become a medical doctor.
She achieved that goal in 1990 after graduating from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She later earned a master’s in public health from Harvard University and has training in obstetrics, gynecology, and family medicine.
“I learned that here in the U.S., you just have to work hard,” Reid-Renner says. “I wasn’t rich. Being poor becomes your motivator, because you know what you don’t want. You have to learn to fight to get what you want.”
Eventually, Reid-Renner was invited to move to south- central Indiana to start her own medical practice. “I got a letter from a small hospital in Bedford [Dunn Memorial Hospital] and I wondered what to do,” she says. “I was out of my element. There were no Black people there. It was scary.
“But it was my opportunity to start my own practice. There I was, this Black woman from Jamaica, via New York, in Bedford, Indiana,” she says. Her practice was soon full. People came because they were curious, and she worked hard to charm them.
In 2006, Reid-Renner moved her Bedford practice—the Southern Indiana Family Practice Center—to Bloomington, where she and her team provide medical care for men, women, and children over the age of 12.
And in 2019, Reid-Renner’s hard work and tenacity led her to open Rejuv Aesthetics medical spa. Rejuv Aesthetics offers services like microdermabrasion, LED light therapy, laser acne treatment, Botox, and laser hair removal.
“Everyone has something they are not comfortable with about themselves,” Reid- Renner says. “My goal is not to make you look like a movie star, but to look like the best you.”
Reid-Renner says that what sets Rejuv Aesthetics apart from other spas is its more comprehensive approach to treatment.
“You get a complete assessment, and a menu of treatment will be curated for you,” she explains.
After the assessment, clients can review their curated “menu” and select which services they want. From there, Reid-Renner says, Rejuv Aesthetics “can work on restoring beauty, health, or whatever it is that patients are looking for.”
For more information, visit sifpchealth.com.
