Hackensack Meridian Health’s Post

“It’s amazing, I can’t even describe it, it’s so cool. I left high school knowing what I wanted to do and came back. It’s very fulfilling to serve my local community - to serve here as a teenager and come back serving as a professional. I knew I needed to come back to where I’m from and bring back that innovation, right back to my community.” From the moment Dr. Stephanie Sansone was diagnosed with scoliosis in 8th grade, through years spent consulting doctors from far and wide for an innovative approach to her condition, attending a high school partnered with Jersey Shore University Medical School, volunteering at Riverview Medical Center and completing her medical education before finally making her full circle moment at Ocean University Medical Center and Jersey Shore University Medical Center, providing the best care possible for her community has been her goal. She recalls sitting in the patient chair as a child, listening to the initial remedial plan being recommended to use a hard brace and feeling the weight of her scoliosis diagnosis. “Because I was so young I felt like this was the end of the world. When you're an 8th grade girl you’re thinking about wearing cool clothes and going to prom, not wearing a bulky brace.” After consulting another physician in New York beyond her local specialists, she was recommended a soft brace. Dr. Sansone immediately saw the value of perspective and continuous advancement of technology in medicine. “The forefront of research and new techniques with a soft brace allowed me to significantly improve my quality of life and I knew the new impact of innovation. It’s not a one size fits all for patients.” From there, she applied to her community premed high school, Monmouth County Academy of Allied Health & Science, which was partnered with Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Inspired by the impact her New York-based physician made on her, Dr. Sansone sought out Weill Cornell Medical College, continuing with her residency in OB/GYN at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and completing her fellowship at New York Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Sansone strives to bring the same approach that inspired her as a child and through her education to her patients today. “There is an art of medicine. It’s beyond the black and white textbook and scientific research. When you enter an appointment, you have to observe your patient’s situation, not treat them like a scientific fact. I see patients that deal with things like pelvic organ prolapse or urine leakage. It's not a huge operation necessarily but that patient can sometimes be embarrassed and on the verge of tears. The diagnosis—how they feel, that’s where the part of empathy and compassion comes in—recognizing how they must feel through these conditions. To another doctor it can be a diagnosis, but to me really it is beyond that.” #PeopleofHMH