Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak is an emergency medicine physician.

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Latest articles

Physician voices

My first year as an attending physician almost broke me

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

October 2, 2026Oct 2, 2026

I can finally write this essay almost five years out. That's how long it took me to fully heal. To process. To gain perspective. I graduated residency in June 2020 at the height of COVID. I, along with my family,…

I can finally write this essay almost five years out. That’s how long it took me to fully heal. To process. To gain perspective.

I graduated residency in June 2020 at the height of COVID. I, along with my family, including my husband, two preschoolers, a four-month-old infant, and two dogs, drove from Miami to Chicago to complete an amazing fellowship. The year was perfect, though masked, sometimes scary, and full …

Physician voices

A physician’s running list of microaffirmations

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

January 30, 2022Jan 30, 20222

Microaffirmations are the antidote to microaggressions. Microaggressions are the little insidious comments or acts of barely perceptible injustice and bias that bite and nip and slowly erode our confidence in our belonging, worth, and power. As I continued the medical training journey, I continually searched for the antidote. Mere protection against the daily barbs and arrows was not enough. I needed more than protection- I needed an offensive strategy as …

Physician voices

There is always that one patient

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

December 2, 2019Dec 2, 20198

There is always that one patient. The one with the over-attentive, aggressive family member, who writes a complaint. The one you tried to help, but no matter what, the wait was too long, the nurse too unfriendly, you didn’t sit enough, you didn’t reassure enough, pain meds took too long, you didn’t make them feel important. That one patient who has the time, negative energy, and physical health to write …

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There is always that one patient

Physician voices

To my mentor: Thank you. I didn’t know how much I needed you.

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

January 23, 2019Jan 23, 2019

I never really had a true mentor. Or role model. I wasn’t sure if they were the same thing, or what the difference was, so I gave up. Sometime in middle school, I remember a teacher encouraging us to find someone we looked up to and develop a mentor relationship. I was 12, looked at my teachers who I thought were old, and ignored that advice.

In high school, I thought …

Physician voices

What my dog taught me about my patients’ feelings

Elizabeth Rubin Ribak, MD

December 14, 2018Dec 14, 2018

My puppy looked sick. Not just any sick but “get an attending, two large bore IVs, start fluids, get her on a monitor, move her to the resuscitation bay” sick. And I was scared. “You have to take her to the vet!” I pleaded with my husband as I sprinted down the street to get home to get the keys to the car.

As I sat at home waiting for updates …