For Vanden Grube, MD, an important lesson from years of powerlifting is knowing when not to push harder.
Dr. Grube, a 2024 graduate of Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine and current resident in the St. Luke’s Dermatology Residency, has learned that progress does not always come from adding more weight to the bar. Sometimes it means stepping back, reassessing and trusting the process.
It is a lesson that serves him just as well in medicine.
This month, Dr. Grube competed in his 16th powerlifting competition, recording a 660-pound squat, 390-pound bench press and 730-pound deadlift for a 1,780-pound total. The performance marked personal records in both the squat and total – achieved without injury.
But ask him what powerlifting has taught him, and he talks less about numbers than consistency.
“I have found it is not the act of lifting heavier weights over time, but rather remaining consistent that is the most difficult part of the sport to this day,” he said. “Consistency over the last 14 years has helped me develop a sense of forced accountability, a frequent opportunity to interrogate my own excuses and has provided me a greater capacity to handle the stress and challenges of everyday life.”
Those qualities have followed him from the gym to medical school and now into residency.
When Dr. Grube began his medical education at Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine, he already knew he wanted to pursue dermatology and hoped to continue his training at St. Luke’s. Today, those long-term goals have given way to the daily responsibilities and rewards of patient care.
“Aside from the increased responsibility in residency, the biggest difference is the reward of spending my days with patients and learning side by side from my co-residents and faculty.”
Dr. Grube describes dermatologists as physicians who “wear many hats,” serving at different times as surgeons, pathologists, infectious disease specialists and immunologists.
He has been particularly drawn to dermatologic surgery and values the breadth of experiences available through St. Luke’s, including procedural training, outpatient clinics and inpatient consultations involving infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Residency has also taught him to become comfortable with uncertainty.
“There will be times when you are not fully certain on a diagnosis for a patient, or there is a case that presents challenges with management in residency training and thereafter as a board-certified dermatologist,” he said.
Rather than viewing uncertainty as a weakness, Dr. Grube approaches it systematically – like his powerlifting. Through clinics, didactics and collaboration with colleagues and faculty, residents learn to evaluate complex cases and develop thoughtful treatment plans.
Dr. Grube began pumping iron as a high school freshman and entered his first competition shortly before graduation. Fourteen years later, he trains with the discipline that helped him achieve his recent personal records. “This training cycle has really taught me when to hold back, which is more important than deciding when to approach and push limits,” he said.
Dr. Grube has avoided significant injuries throughout his lifting career by taking a deliberate risk-reward approach to training. At the first sign of a problem, he shifts his focus to recovery rather than pushing through.
Whether in the gym or the clinic, he believes lasting progress comes from patience and consistency.
“I hope to fulfill a role that is not only centered on diagnosis and treatment of dermatologic disease but to also serve as a compassionate educator who patients trust,” he said, “along with being an approachable attending in whom those in training can seek mentorship.”
