Page 14 - La Vita template (3)

Taking Back Your Life
Spending time with Dr. Judith Rubin is like a breath of fresh
air. After just a few short moments it was obvious that when
you think about the qualities most patients search for in a
physician, Dr. Rubin easily exceeds those qualifications.
One of the main issues that patients will often voice when it
comes to choosing a physician is that they feel intimidated
and often believe that the doctor is not really listening to
them. Dr. Rubin has made a point of dedicating ample time Dr. Rubin’s level of compassion may very well have been
to each patient that comes through her doors, so that she taught to her at an early age. Dr. Rubin is a third genera-
can be certain she is hearing the entire story. These conver- tion female physician. She grew up in a family of physicians.
sations in her office are often the primary way in which Dr.
14
Photo courtesy of Dr. Judith Rubin
November/December 2010
Rubin can diagnose a problem. Of course, standard blood
work and additional tests will be performed if needed, but as
Dr. Rubin states, “A Doctor needs to listen. We are taught
that in medical school, the problem is many doctors just don’t
have the time to. I have made a commitment to my patients
and I make a point of seeing no more than 15 patients a day
so I have the time to listen.”
Dr Rubin’s mom was an ophthalmologist and an ophthal-
mic plastic surgeon and her great aunt (who
raised her mom due to the tragic death of her
grandmother) was an Ob/Gyn. In addition Dr.
Rubin’s father was a physician’s assistant, and
both her brother and sister are physicians.
I asked her if her daughter, who is thirteen,
would be following in her footsteps and she
jokingly responded “She can do anything she
wants as long as there is an MD after her
name. I wanted to be anything but a doc-
tor growing up, but my parents were smart
enough to see how good I was in science and
math and how bad I was in english. They let
me dream of what I wanted to be, but made
sure I had the prerequisites to go to medical
school. They were right; I love being a doctor
and wouldn’t have it any other way.”
After obtaining her medical degree from the
State University of New York, Dr. Rubin had
the tough task of deciding what area of medi-
cine she wanted as her specialty. “When I
graduated from med school I couldn’t decide
what I wanted to do, I loved it all. What made
me finally decide on the Ob/Gyn specialty was
that I realized when I was on rounds at 4 am
during my time in Ob/Gyn I was still whistling.
However, after some time I realized that I
missed the rest of medicine, so I changed my
focus to family practice.”
Dr. Rubin attended UC Davis in Northern
California and quickly fell into their medical
community, enjoying their somewhat alterna-
tive approach to medicine. “This was a great
learning experience since they were more
alternative and open minded in this part of the
country. It was 1989 and I was already learn-
ing about bio-identical hormones, homeopathy
and herbs. During this time I read everything
I could on Alternative Medicine, I became an
expert on progesterone and other hormones
which so greatly affected my female patients.