Visionaries and Educators

Divine reinvention

How one physician listened to her children, closed up shop and headed West.

By Sheri L. Rowen, MD

My desire to move West took seed more than 20 years ago. The appeals: the weather, extraordinary landscape and technology hubs.

But back then, after training at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins, I became medical director of Mercy Medical Center’s department of Ophthalmology in Baltimore. I also had my own laser vision and cosmetic center.

And then life filled in some blanks. Children came and grew, and my career, including industry consultancy, took off. Our lives became entrenched in the community. But those peripatetic seeds stayed put.

And then seven years ago, my girls, the same ones who begged me to remain in Baltimore two decades before, moved to California. After realizing the change would be permanent, I seriously considered all options to get my license there.

I wasn’t looking for an exit strategy — I am not ready to retire, and I have loved my work throughout my career. I knew that if I were to move near my children, I had to do so while there was still time to start over, make new connections and create a new life.

This is how I did it.

BLESSING AND A CURSE

I was blessed in having made a name for myself throughout my career by teaching, publishing and speaking nationally and internationally. So as I explored different options, it certainly helped that I was a known entity and did not have to completely prove myself all over again.

In some respects, though, that made moving even more difficult. I knew I would be competing with newly trained residents who were willing to work for less compensation; they would also be quite moldable to the practice they would join. Although experience is a powerful asset, I feared that all my training would be a detriment to joining a practice. Not having another 25 to 30 years to give to a practice might make me less desirable than one looking for someone who would bring longevity.

Unless I brought new skills.

Artwork by the author’s daughter, titled “Fish Pond.”

BACK TO SCHOOL

A year before I moved, I attended a Harvard Executive Management Course; and before moving, the Physician CEO Program at the Kellogg School of Management. I didn’t know what, career-wise, I would be able to lean on other than some consultancy work once I got to Newport Beach.

What I do know is that our medical education did not provide us with a proper business education or perspective as part of our medical education, and this has been to our extreme detriment. Many business components comprise the successfully run entrepreneurial practice; time spent in medical school on these subjects would help us be true physician-CEOs. We need to understand how we create business, execute it and manage our financials for our best success.

THE MOVE

My consulting arrangements were the only firm prospects I had when I arrived in California. But I was okay with that because it was the place where I desired to be.

After getting over the initial shock that massive change was coming, I maintained a positive attitude. I wanted to make this an opportunity to recreate myself and look at it as a case of “one door closing and another one opening.” I decided I would not allow fear to grab hold, as it stunts and prohibits creativity. I had the confidence that somehow a good opportunity would find me because of what I could offer.

I signed the condo lease in the fall — my kids helped me find a place to live, as my son-in-law is a real estate agent. I had no idea that it would take just three months to land a clinical opportunity. As luck, maybe fate, would have it, I met the owner of NVision Eye Centers in Newport Beach while attending the Harvard and Kellogg courses. He later invited me to join his practice.

While at Kellogg, I planned to create dry eye centers so that ophthalmologists could finally address this prevalent problem. After speaking to the practice owner about dry eye centers, we are now implementing it. I choose the days of the week I see patients, and I continue to teach residents and colleagues while also pursuing my love for new business and technological ideas.

Artwork by the author’s daughter, titled “Santa Monica Pier.”

LIVING AND LOVING IN S-CAL

It’s funny how time changes everything. My girls basically demanded that I move to California to be near them. They even helped me decorate and furnish my new condo. My oldest daughter is a wonderful artist, and all of my wall art is her creation.

Prior to my move, we had been traveling cross-country to visit each other for seven years. But I made the move after deciding that family was most important, and that I would love to experience grandchildren when that time came, and more than just once or twice a year. OM

Dr. Rowen was the founder and former medical director of the Mercy Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology in Baltimore, Md., for the last 19 years of her practice. She moved to Newport Beach, Calif., this past year to work with NVision Eye Centers as their chief cataract surgeon.