Larue Barnes: Dr. Elena Gurova of Cleburne dances, heals

As television viewers recently watched “Dancing with the Stars,” cheering for ex-Dallas Cowboy Emmit Smith to win the competition, it became obvious that dancing is an athletic sport, requiring coordination and stamina to do it well. Dr. Elena Gurova of Cleburne understands that. She was named Moscow’s first Athletic Rock and Roll Champion.

As a 16-year-old, living in Moscow, Russia, she trained on a dance team that was much like preparing for an Olympic sport. She became a paid professional, performing with her team all across the Soviet Union.

She prepared so well that she was named champion and continued with the group through medical school, spending up to three hours a day in practice. It was as a dance instructor that she met her future husband, Yuri Trushin.

“I was a student at Moscow State University,” Trushin recalled. “When I reported for a class in sports dancing my senior year, I was in for a delightful surprise. I was a newcomer to dancing. The instructor paired me with Elena. She was so skilled in dance acrobatics. She taught me how to sling her around wildly and to do the dance steps, but I was afraid she would get hurt.”

Her high-energy approach to life had first surfaced in childhood.

“When I attended public school in Moscow, I reported to class at 7:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday,” she said. “I returned home at 3 or 4 p.m., depending on how many classes I took. Then, there were always three to four hours of homework every night.”

She learned to organize her time and didn’t mind the long hours of study.

“I always wanted to learn something new. I wanted to achieve. I think there are three types of students: those who lead, those who follow and those who work alone. I found that I could achieve more by leading in small groups.”

Both her parents are physicians in Moscow, now practicing part-time. Her father, Dr. Vaycheslav Krivdapov, is a neurologist; her mother, Dr. Victoria Gurova, a cardiologist. He has visited here three times. Her mother is still apprehensive about making the long flight, but hopes to visit in the spring.

Dr. Gurova explained the complexity of the name she was given at birth.

“In Russia, the woman does not have to change her name when she marries,” she said. “Then, if they have a child, they choose either her last name or his for the child’s last name. My parents chose ‘Gurova’ for me. By law, however, the child’s middle name must be her father’s first name. I was born Yelena Vaycheslavovna Gurova. The ‘ovna’ added to my father’s first name, means ‘female daughter of.’ When I became a U.S. citizen, I chose to drop the Y in my first name.”

Dr. Gurova was a registered nurse before becoming a physician.

“I had received my undergraduate degree in nursing and worked as a registered nurse for three years before I decided to become a doctor. I observed doctors during that time very carefully, and I saw that many of them did not listen to their patients. I also watched those who were excellent physicians.”

She entered Moscow Medical Academy, Russia’s oldest and largest medical school. With another year in medical school to complete, she and Trushin married, in July 1989. He had graduated from Moscow State University in 1988 with a specialty in history, art and culture. He had learned the languages of Laos and Thailand, and was employed by Radio Moscow World Service.

In 1995, Elena was sent as a member of an exchange program to the University of Texas in Austin, planning to major in medical research and computer science. Yuri remained in Moscow, and they e-mailed daily. She had no free time, because studying was intense.

After the exchange program was over, she decided to become a practicing physician in the United States. This required a move to Lubbock to do her residency in internal medicine at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. While waiting on her residency, she worked at an emergency room at Hi-Plains Hospital in West Texas.

She remembers a young woman who came in requesting a shot for stomach pain.

“It was obvious that she was pregnant. Evidently she didn’t recognize labor even though she was a health professional by occupation. I examined her and found that the baby was being born right then. That was my first time to deliver a baby.”

While finishing her residency in Lubbock, Dr. Gurova was an emergency room physician in Portales, N.M.

“There was a lot of crime there,” she said. “A patient might come in with a knife sticking in him. Cowboys rode bulls and got hurt. I was alone in the whole place. Instead of being afraid, I think I felt the responsibility of making decisions quickly on my own. It was very good experience for me.”

Trushin said it was difficult to remain in Russia while his wife was in America.

“Elena e-mailed me that there was a green card lottery coming up, and encouraged me to apply,” he said. “More than 50,000 applied and 20,000 were contacted to send in their paperwork. I was one of those.”

The long delay of shots, passport and paper work had finally ended. By February 2000, Yuri was on the airplane on his way to Lubbock.

But there was another passenger with him.

He smiled as he told of Masha, the couple’s long-haired Tortie cat that also made the long trek.

“Elena had found Masha next to a trash can in Moscow,” Trushin said. “I couldn’t leave her behind when I came to the United States. It was necessary, however, to get a passport, shots and a passenger ticket for her too.

“And she was so scared! She had never left the apartment in Moscow for six years. I had her in a transport cage, but they let me take her out and hold her on my knees because she was so terrified. I sat there for 10 straight hours without moving to keep her calm. She is a family member to both of us, and is doing fine.”

At Texas Tech, Trushin became the graphic designer at PrinTech.

After she completed her internal medicine residency in Lubbock in 2003, the couple moved to Burleson and she joined a group practice in Cleburne. In September, she set up her solo practice at 624 N. Main St. in Cleburne.

Trushin is an award-winning artist of watercolor and oil paintings and ink drawings. He is represented by several galleries in the Metroplex. Also a graphic artist, he most recently designed the Cleburne Heritage Monument that soon will be installed at the northern entrance to Cleburne.

The physician’s days remain organized. She sees patients at her office, in the hospital and in nursing homes. Athletic training for herself, however, continues to be a priority.

A daily workout for both at a local gym keeps them in shape.

“I do the cardiovascular exercises, lift weights or swim in the pool every single day,” she said. “We also go to dance clubs in Fort Worth and Dallas.”

She smiled and added, “Yuri is a very good dancer.”

I thought of the instructor who paired Yuri and Elena during a Moscow State University sports dance class. Perhaps the choice was purely at random.

They’ve been staying in step ever since.



Larue Barnes may be reached at laruebarnes@yahoo.com.

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