Dr. Deborah M. Elder is a Cum Laude graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio with high honors in Biology. During this time, she served in the Consultantsal Research Center at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia as well as the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. She earned her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Dr. Elder assisted in the research department in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. She served as House staff in the Department of Internal Medicine for the Medical College of Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia. While completing her residency in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, she served as Chief Resident.

Dr. Elder is board certified by the American Academy of Dermatology.