Eyeworld

EW IN OTHER NEWS 98 November 2017 by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer and she added that she liked the continuity of care aspect. As a first- year medical student, she did some research at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary with David Ritterband, MD, and she said that he inspired her to go into ophthalmology. EW Contact information Trubnik: valerietrubnik@yahoo.com practice, you have to go to compe- titions, and there's no concept of finals or papers," she said, adding that it just wasn't working with her schoolwork. "If you have a partner who is serious about it, it's not fair to your partner," she added. Dr. Trubnik hopes to be able to get back into dance someday, and she'd like to take lessons with her husband or get her daughter involved. She noted that she would like to try the Argentine Tango, a dance that she's never attempted be- fore. She said there is a tremendous amount of work involved to keep up with ballroom dancing and noted that a number of others who she previously trained with still dance to this day. Dr. Trubnik drew parallels between ballroom dancing and ophthalmology. "In ophthalmol- ogy, to be a better surgeon, some people record themselves and watch the videos afterward to look at technique and hand position and see what they can do differently," she said, adding that it's similar in Dr. Trubnik competed seriously as a ballroom dancer before medical school B efore becoming an oph- thalmologist, Valerie Trubnik, MD, Ophthal- mic Consultants of Long Island, Long Island, New York, competed in ballroom danc- ing. She spoke to EyeWorld about her past participation in competi- tions and her interest in potentially getting back into dancing after a number of years. Dr. Trubnik started ballroom dancing when she was around 10 years old, after first starting with ballet. "I had a friend who was do- ing ballroom dancing," she said. "It sounded fun because of the competi- tions and costumes." When starting out, she said that you begin with group lessons to learn the basic steps. Once you reach a certain level, you're paired with someone of a similar level or someone who is more advanced if you have potential. At that point, you start to consider competitions and taking private lessons. Dr. Trubnik got into competing about a year after she began ball- room dancing, already having some basis with her ballet experience, al- though she noted that she naturally tended to turn her feet out because of her ballet technique. Competitions, she said, took place mostly locally in New York, but she did travel to some compe- titions in Ohio, Florida, and other locations. Dr. Trubnik chose to give up ballroom dancing in college. "I did it for the first 2 years of college, then I hit organic chemistry and felt like I had to focus time on my studies," she said, adding that in order to really be good at ballroom dancing, you have to dedicate a tremendous amount of time to it. "You have to Ophthalmologist discusses previous experiences with ballroom dancing Valerie Trubnik, MD Do you have a hobby, interest, or sideline work that might be of interest to your fellow ophthalmologists? Please contact Amy Goldenberg, amy@eyeworld.org, with your idea for possible future inclusion in the "In other news" section. In other news ballroom dancing. She remembers watching tapes with her partner and going over everything step by step to learn how to improve. "The dis- cipline [and] coordination certainly helped for ophthalmology training as well," she said. When choosing to pursue ophthalmology, Dr. Trubnik said she liked the idea of doing surgery and also being involved clinically, Dr. Trubnik (not pictured here) hopes to be able to get back into dance someday, and she'd like to take lessons with her husband or get her daughter involved. Source: Getty Images

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