Eyeworld

EW IN OTHER NEWS 86 January 2018 by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer Ophthalmologist runs full-time practice while teaching swing dancing around the world Dr. Lee has built a practice in Seattle while keeping up with her interest in swing dancing S wing dancing has been an interest of Jennifer Lee, MD, Washington Pacific Eye Associates, Kirkland, Washington, since she was in medical school. Today she con- tinues dancing and teaching classes while running a general ophthal- mology practice. "One of my co-medical school students was interested in various forms of dancing," she said. "He was going to a swing dance, and he asked me to come with him for fun." At the dance, there was a lesson. This was during Dr. Lee's early years of medical school. "In your didactic years, you're pretty en- trenched in that, so it's nice to do something active in your free time," she said. Dr. Lee enjoyed the music and thought the dancing was energetic and fun. Though she didn't think too much of it at first, she liked it enough to go again. She began to take a class on the weekends and continued dancing casually in medical school but gave it up in residency. Dr. Lee ended up in Seattle where she started her own practice right out of residency. This led to 2–3 years of intensive work. She soon realized that the only people she knew in the city were her part- time employee, her sister, her sister's boyfriend, and her dog. "I realized I should find something else to do," she said. This led to an inter- net search for hobbies that she had done in the past, including singing, martial arts, and swing dancing. "I ran across this website about swing dancing," Dr. Lee said. "There is a large swing dancing scene in Seattle." She decided this could be good a way to meet people but not necessarily have to commit weekly. At one point, Dr. Lee and her significant other decided to take dancing lessons, though not swing dancing since she already knew how to do that. They tried tango and blues dancing. "We both decided that we liked Balboa, which is a swing dance from a certain time pe- riod." It is a niche dance in a small area of California in the Balboa Peninsula. It's this type of swing dancing that Dr. Lee now teaches. "I got into that particular style of dancing be- cause it is beautiful, elegant, and has the same type of music that I fell in love with while swing dancing," she said. After finding this type of dance, Dr. Lee began traveling and dancing and eventually started teaching. Now she teaches once or twice a month. "I think with any kind of dancing, if you get to a certain level, in order to challenge yourself, you have to take classes and work hard, but you do have to travel, too," Dr. Lee said. "Your local scene will only be at a certain level, and you'll have to travel to meet other people who are also trying to get to the next lev- el." Traveling can also show others what you're doing and allow you to participate in competitions. In order to fit this into her busy schedule, Dr. Lee said it has helped that she has her own practice be- cause she could leave directly after work on Friday, participate in week- end dance competitions, and return home Sunday for work on Monday. She now has several optometrists working in her practice, which helps add flexibility to her schedule while having the office covered. "It was never stressful because I didn't look at it as something that I was going to pursue as a career," Dr. Lee said, adding that because she didn't pressure herself to excel, it was more enjoyable. As the years progressed, Dr. Lee said any pressure to dance was from herself, wanting to do dance better and eventually teach better. "It was all self-motivat- ed, which was both good and bad," she said. "It's hard to keep motivat- ing yourself in everything you do, but if it is self-motivated, it truly is authentic." Dr. Lee has made connections through dancing, including anoth- er ophthalmologist who works in Finland who she met while traveling in Europe. She noted the similarities between dancing and ophthalmolo- gy, including the concentration on excellence and self-discipline. "I have this hobby that uses a different kind of brain than my work life does," she said. There are different challenges with her danc- ing—like the travel and physicality of it—than with ophthalmology. Dr. Lee has a general ophthal- mology practice and said she likes being in general ophthalmology because she gets to see a variety of patients and help them with different issues. "It's rewarding from that perspective," she said. "The thing that a lot of residents don't understand is due to your long-term relationships with patients as a gen- eral ophthalmologist, even if they go see a specialist, they will often trust your opinion over that of the specialist." EW Contact information Lee: drjenniferlee@live.com Dr. Lee and her dance partner Andreas Olsson Source: Jennifer Lee, MD

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