My name is Dóra Werling, I was born in Pécs, I graduated from the Cistercian Order Nagy Lajos High School in Pécs. I went to university at the Faculty of General Medicine, General Physician at the University of Pécs, and obtained my degree in 2012. After five years of ophthalmology practices, I decided that I wanted to work in ophthalmology in the future, and I particularly liked the microsurgery part. After obtaining my diploma, I started full-time PhD training at the Anatomy Institute of the University of Pécs, with two supervisors. One of my supervisors worked at the Ophthalmology Clinic, so I was able to participate in clinical life and patient care, as well as in research and education through the Anatomy Institute. I started my residency training at the Ophthalmology Clinic in 2016. I obtained my PhD degree in March 2017, the title of my thesis is: Investigation of the retinoprotective effect of neuropeptides in ischemic retinopathy. I successfully passed the ophthalmology exam in the fall of 2021 in Szeged. I have not stopped my scientific activities in addition to clinical life, we currently have several active projects.

What was the reason why you took advantage of the opportunity offered by your manager and joined the Champion network organized by the Institute for Transdisciplinary Discoveries?

My supervisor contacted me to ask if I would like to join the Champion group belonging to the Institute for Transdisciplinary Research. Before that, I didn't have much information about their exact activities, but innovative solutions have always interested me and I consider myself motivated. After gathering enough information, there was no question that I wanted to join this team.

How much extra work and time investment did it require of you to participate in the programs and workshops, and how were you able to reconcile this with your everyday tasks?

Through a very well-functioning communication system, we were informed in time about upcoming events and meetings, and it was always possible to vote on the time of group meetings, so it was not difficult to reconcile with clinical life. Of course, there were times when something unexpected came up, but in such cases the Institute for Transdisciplinary Discoveries was understanding and did not cause any problems.

How did you feel during the one year you spent in the program, was there any practical benefit to the knowledge you acquired there that you can use in your everyday work?

I had a great time at the meetings and events, it was good to break away from the clinical everyday life and look at the clinical system from a completely different perspective. I try to use the acquired knowledge. I have improved a lot in the detailed exploration of problem solutions, and I have a different approach to each problematic situation. It helped to shed light on the problems with the help of the Discovery Team, which did not even appear to us because we work in it, but could cause difficulties for an outsider, such as the patients.

I learned how a little attention can make patient care and our work easier.

Have you decided to continue your participation this year as well? Is there a field or topic that you would like to work on, or that could have a great impact on your immediate work environment, but has not yet come up during the training?

In the future, I would like to participate in trainings related to application writing, and I would also like to join trainings related to team management.

Would you recommend the training to others?

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a slightly different perspective and want to be part of a good team!