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Family practice offers unique experience
Nicole Lemanski, MD, reflects on working with her mother, Mabel Cheng, MD.
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Welcome to another edition of CEDARS/ASPENS Debates. CEDARS/ASPENS is a joint society of cornea, cataract and refractive surgery specialists, here to discuss some of the latest hot topics in ophthalmology.
This month, being the month of Mother’s Day, we have a guest author, Nicole Lemanski, MD. Dr. Lemanski is a corneal specialist who has joined her mother’s ophthalmology practice. Dr. Lemanski will discuss what it is like to work with her mother and carry on her legacy. We hope you enjoy this discussion.
Kenneth A. Beckman, MD, FACSOSN CEDARS/ASPENS Debates Editor
How many mother-daughter medical practices can you list off the top of your head? While there are many father-son medical practices, mother-daughter practices are few and far between. There are not many ophthalmologists who have mothers who are also practicing ophthalmologists. Fewer still are able to say that they practice with their mother. I have the privilege of claiming both. After finishing my cornea fellowship in 2015, I moved back to upstate New York to join my mother, Mabel Cheng, MD, in her comprehensive ophthalmology practice. Each day we work alongside each other, caring for and educating patients, and even sometimes operating together. Practicing with my mom is a unique experience, one that I would not trade for any other.
My mom worked hard to get to where she is today, and she has always been a positive female role model in my life. As the oldest of four children, she worked many jobs and long hours to put herself and her sisters through college and graduate school. I was born while she was in the midst of her medical training, and somehow she was able to juggle medical school and raising me while on the opposite side of the country from where my father was training in medicine. During her ophthalmology residency, I studied next to her while she read her BCSC, tagged along when she practiced suturing in wet lab and watched the riveting VHS series Phacoemulsification. She always let me watch what she was doing, let me look through the microscope and see her in action, while encouraging me to challenge myself, ask questions and learn.
Looking back, as I went through school and became interested in science, my parents never pushed me to go into medicine but always included me in what they were doing. I traveled with my mom to meetings and medical missions, sat in on conferences, helped as she organized health fairs and volunteered, and observed her in the OR while she taught residents. In medical school I became interested in ophthalmology after I was assigned the eye dissection in cadaver lab. Before our final test I asked my mom if she would come to the lab and review the anatomy with me. We spent the afternoon in the lab and she pulled her books. That evening, after listening to my mom become so excited with the eye, I knew I wanted to be an ophthalmologist, too.
I chose to do my residency near my hometown. In doing so I had the opportunity to work with my mom on trauma call a number of times. At first it was a little strange to call my mom “Dr. Cheng,” but I got used to it, and it was always exciting to be in the OR with her. It was in those situations when I really appreciated and realized how blessed I was to have such a strong role model. When I was young, my mom could always turn a bad situation into something good. Messed up on my homework that I wrote with pen? It’s OK, you can make that extra loop into a little flower. Don’t have what you need for the recipe? It’s OK, we will improvise and it will still be terrific. She always told me to “do your best with what you have.” The first time I did a ruptured globe case with her I realized how this mentality allowed my mom to be such an accomplished surgeon. She patiently pointed out which pieces I should suture back together and where, and by the end of the case, there was a formed eyeball.
It is amazing to be able to work alongside someone who is so passionate about her career and the people she cares for. At our surgery center, I usually operate on the same day as my mom. It never gets boring watching her operate. She is always pushing herself with challenging refractive cases and always learning the newest techniques and technologies to best help her patients improve their quality of life.
When I was growing up, my mom always used to call her patients the night after surgery to make sure they were doing OK. At the time I assumed all doctors did this. During my own medical training I realized that was not the case. I started doing the same when I was in residency. Now after we get out of the OR, we usually grab some dinner before heading back to the office and calling our patients.
When I joined the practice, my mother and I were uncertain if we should advertise being a mother-daughter practice. Because our last names are different, we figured no one would assume that we were related. Our patients showed us what an asset it was as my mother’s long-time patients instantly recognized me and shared their love of the thought of us working together. We are really a family business. My younger brother is our practice administrator at the moment, but he has caught the ophthalmology bug already and will be applying to medical school in the next year. It would be great to have him join us as well.
Every day when I go to work, I am inspired. I am privileged to be able to work alongside such a bright, talented, loving, humble and industrious physician every day — the same person who I call mom.
- For more information:
- Mabel Cheng, MD, practices comprehensive ophthalmology in Niskayuna, New York, and is an assistant professor in the department of ophthalmology at Albany Medical Center.
- Nicole Lemanski, MD, practices comprehensive ophthalmology, cornea and refractive surgery in Niskayuna, New York, and is on staff in the department of ophthalmology at Albany Medical Center. She can be reached at email: nicole.ann.lemanski@gmail.com.
Disclosure: No products or companies that would require financial disclosure are mentioned in this article.