Lisa Ostrin
BIO
Assistant Professor and clinical scientist (OD/PhD) in optometry at the University of Houston (US). Mom of 4 children, aged 9, 12, 14, and 16.
Instagram: @theanatomicaleye
Twitter: @LisaOstrin
Lisa Ostrin
“Because my husband and I are a dual academic career couple, we understand and appreciate each other's passion for what we do.”
I joined an OD/PhD program, not really knowing my career options, but knowing I loved the eye. I got married to my husband during the first year of school, and during his second year as an MD/PhD student. Assuming we would be in school forever, we had two children in school.
We moved to Baltimore for his residency and my postdoc, and had our third child. From there we moved to the Bay Are for my K12 grant at Berkeley and his fellowship at UCSF, where we had our fourth child.
At this point we realised we needed real jobs, so we applied for faculty positions. Luckily, we both joined faculty in our home town, his at MD Anderson Cancer Centre and mine at the University of Houston College of Optometry, both non-tenure track but with potential for moving into tenure track - which we both did. I am now R01 funded and a PI of my own lab, while teaching in both the professional optometry program and graduate vision science program.
Because my husband and I are a dual academic career couple, we understand and appreciate each other's passion for what we do. We also prefer to not choose positions that require us to be separated. Luckily, we’ve both continued our productivity, even if at a slower rate for certain periods.
We struggle daily with not being 100% available for our children, but we share this journey with them so they are also excited about what we can achieve.