Publications - Gloria Schrager, MD

Dr. Gloria Schrager began her education during the Great Depression, in a one-room schoolhouse of a small Adirondack village in upper New York State. For her higher education she was sent to live with relatives in Brooklyn, New York and graduated Brooklyn College in 1944. She decided to become a doctor at a time when few women went to medical school and she had to face many obstacles in her struggle to be accepted, first as a student and then as a physician.

Dr. Schrager earned her MD from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1948. She met her future husband, Alvin J. Schrager, MD during her internship, and after finishing post-graduate training they started a private practice in Westfield, New Jersey. Their two sons have become physicians, as have her niece and grandniece, establishing three generations of doctors in the family.

In 1972, Dr. Schrager left private practice to become the full-time Director of Pediatrics at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, where she founded the Pediatric Residency Training Program. Overlook became an affiliate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1973, and Dr. Schrager joined the faculty as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. She retired in 1989 but still maintains her teaching contacts at Columbia. In 2000, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Pediatrics from Overlook Hospital.

Dr. Schrager is the author of two books. Her memoir, The Complex Life of a Woman Doctor, was displayed at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany in October 2008 and the ALA convention in Washington in 2010. Rebecca and her Brothers, published in October, 2010, is a novel about her childhood adventures.

She is a frequent speaker at book clubs and book fairs and has appeared at the Virginia Festival of the Book as well as on radio and television.

Curriculum Vitae

Medical Education

Medical College of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1948

Internship and Residency in Pediatrics, Metropolitan Hospital, NYC, 1948-1951

Fellowship in Pediatrics, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, NYC, 1951-1952

Awards

Post 50th Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015, Brooklyn College.

Founders' Award, 2015, Commonwealth Youthchoirs.
Presented on the occasion of their concert version of Mother B, an opera celebrating a woman who defied the medical community to establish new standards of care during the Civil War.

Academic Appointments

Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1975-1984

Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1984-

Hospital Appointments

Attending Pediatrician (Pediatrics) Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ, 1953-2003

Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Overlook Hospital, 1970-1972

Associate Attending Pediatrician, Babies Hospital, CPMC, NYC, 1975-1984

Attending Pediatrician, Babies Hospital, CPMC, NYC, 1984-1990

Director of Pediatrics (Full Time) Overlook Hospital, Summit NJ, 1972-1989

Program Director and Chairman (Full Time) Pediatric Residency, Overlook Hospital, Summit NJ, 1973-1989

Research Activities

Principal Pediatric Investigator, HHS Grant for Pilot Study of Joint Internal Medicine-Pediatric Primary Care Residency Training Program (Funded 12/9/73-12/30/83, $2.5 Million)

National Board of Medical Examiners research study entitled "Medical Audit System to Evaluate Pediatric Residents", 1980-1983

Professional Societies

Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics

Fellow, N.J. Academy of Pediatrics

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Medical Association

Union County Medical Society

Medical Society of New Jersey

Other Professional Activities

Assistant Medical Director, NY Regional Blood Program American Red Cross, 1952-53

Private Practice of Pediatrics, Westfield, NJ 1953-1972

Member, Westfield Board of Health, 1973-1980

Councillor, New Jersey Academy of Pediatrics, 1973-1977

Neonatal-Perinatal Task Force, NJ Emergency Medical Service Project, 1978-1983

Executive Committee, Department of Pediatrics, Babies Hospital, CPMC, 1975-1983

Faculty Council, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1980-1983

Publications Committee, Academy of Medicine of NJ, 1978-1989

Chairman, Publications Committee Academy of Medicine of NJ, 1983-1989

Executive Committee, Dept. of Pediatrics, Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ, 1970-1989

Medical Education Committee, Overlook Hospital 1972-1989

Organized Regional Conference on "The Role of the Pediatrician as Child Advocate and Instrument for Social Change" with Drs. Benjamin Spock, Rustin McIntosh, Edward Curnen, Richard Day and Michael Katz, Overlook Hospital 4/23/80

Editor-in Chief, Newsletter, Academy of Medicine of New Jersey 1980-1983

Board of Trustees of the Academy of Medicine of New Jersey 1980-1989

Secretary, Pediatric Section, Academy of Medicine of New Jersey 1980-1989

Education Committee, Academy of Medicine of New Jersey, 1980-1989

Ad Hoc Appeals Panel in Pediatrics, Accreditation Council for Graduation Medical Education (ACGME) 1982-1986

Permanent Appeals Panel in Pediatrics (ACGME) 1987-1993

Committee on the Institutional Approach to the Infant with Sudden Unexplained Apnea or Cardiorespiratory Collapse, Babies Hospital, CPMC, 1982-1989

Committee of Pediatric Program Directors, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1986-1989

Visiting Lecturer, JFK Hospital, Edison, NJ, "Management of Epiglottitis" 12/8/82

Visiting Lecturer, Yamanashi University, Japan, "AIDS in Children," 10/29/86

Consultant in Pediatrics, Children's Specialized Hospital Mountainside, NJ, 1970-2003

Emeritus Staff, Children's Specialized Hospital, 2003-

Private Consulting Practice in Pediatrics, Westfield, NJ, 1989-2003

Pediatric Consultant, AXION, 1989-1995

Lecturer, Pediatric Grand Rounds, Overlook Hospital. 8/27/93