Elizabeth Yeu
The Power List 2020 – Power List
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, VA, USA, and Medical Director at Virginia Surgery Center, VA, USA
Your three wishes?
- Allow my children to become mindful, compassionate, conscientious adults who experience fulfilling career(s) that they love as much as I love ophthalmology.
- Personally, provide me a long life that is accompanied by good physical health and a sound mind.
- I'd like three more wishes to keep in my back pocket for further contemplation!
Piece of advice to your younger self?
Life is a journey that warrants appreciation of all the route adjustments, stops and starts to different destinations. Don't treat your goals like a GPS system that defaults you to the “fastest route.” Stop scheduling every minute of your time to others – it is not selfish to think this way. Please schedule time to refuel your soul, calm your mind and rest your body. It will improve the quality of what you can then devote to your family, patients and others.
The most serendipitous moment of your career?
A simultaneously serendipitous and funny moment in my career occurred when I had attended an ad board in 2012. There were seating assignments, and I was assigned to sit next to a prominent surgeon that I had not met before. Throughout the ad board, we held light conversation, joked a bit and may even have partnered up for an activity. Little did I know that a few weeks later, I would be on a phone interview with Virginia Eye Consultants for a job, and I was so embarrassed to learn that the surgeon whom I jovially conversed with throughout the ad board would turn out to be the president of the practice. I believe in fate, and I realize that meeting John Sheppard under the more relaxed circumstances of an ad board was hugely impactful, and I am so thankful to be a part of VEC since 2013.
