Dr. Ming Wang is a nationally ranked amateur ballroom dancer. He was a finalist in the United States Pro/AM International 10 Dance Championships in 2007, in which he won 4th place.
When he graduated from 9th grade as a straight A student, he was denied the opportunity of furthering his education and faced deportation to remote, impoverished areas of China where he would be condemned to a life of poverty and hard labor, a devastating fate that fell upon 20 million youth during 1966-1976. Ming learned to dance and play the Chinese violin (erhu) after he was informed that these skills may allow him to escape the labor camps.
Ming eventually made his way to America with $50, a student visa and an English-Chinese dictionary in his pocket, and an American dream in his heart. He graduated with the highest honors from Harvard Medical School and MIT and became a world-renowned eye surgeon.
Dr. Wang learned ballroom dancing at Harvard Medical School and was a member of the U.S. collegiate champion’s Harvard and MIT Ballroom Dance team.
Dr. Wang not only enjoys the artistry, beauty and physical exercise of ballroom dancing, but he also feels that it has taught him to become a better physician who listens to his patients, and is aware of and sensitive to their feelings, since to ballroom dance well, one must be connected to the needs of his partner and work together as a team. “As a doctor, these are important qualities to have because at the end of the day, what matters is not what I think is most important, but rather what my patients feel is most important. Patients are in the best position to determine what may be wrong with their eyes and/or vision, so my top primary duty as a doctor is to listen to what my patients need and understand how we can work together to find a solution, so learning ballroom dancing has helped me to become not only a better doctor but a better person as well.”
