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Plastic Surgeon To Get Humanitarian Award

By Jane Lerner
The Journal News
(Original publication: June 13, 2004)

Nyack plastic surgeon Laura Sudarsky has traveled from Bangladesh to Colombia and many places in between to fix misshapen and damaged bodies belonging to some of the world's poorest people.

Those efforts will be recognized by her colleagues this week when the Rockland County Medical Society gives her this year's Humanitarian Leadership award.

"She is a shining example, a physician who is a true humanitarian," said Jeffrey Oppenheim, a local neurosurgeon and member of the Medical Society. "She is an amazing person who sets noble goals that we should all aspire to."

The award will be presented at the group's annual meeting and dinner Thursday.

Sudarsky's latest medical trip abroad was in October, when she treated 75 patients, many of them children, in Nicaragua. Her next trip is planned for September, when she will treat youngsters in Colombia.

She donates her time and skills to Connecticut-based Healing the Children, a nonprofit organization that brings medical care to children across the world.Sudarsky also has performed plastic surgery on poor patients in Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador and many African nations, among others.

Her volunteer work isn't limited to faraway places.

Closer to home, she is on the medical advisory board of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and helps review grant applications for groups that want to create programs to help diagnose and treat the disease.

Sudarsky said she first became interested in volunteer work when she was doing her medical residency.

"I really believe in the philosophy that we all need to give something back," she said. She looks forward to accepting the Medical Society's award.

"Being honored by your peers is a great honor," Sudarsky said. "I respect them and I value their opinions."

Last year's award was given to retired Pomona physician Glenn Patterson, who had a medical practice in Rockland for 37 years. He was active in the civil rights movement and later traveled to developing nations to donate his services.

The first award was given to Sudarsky's former medical partner, Martha MacGuffie, a New City plastic surgeon who has done volunteer and humanitarian work in Africa and elsewhere.At its annual meeting, the group also will present a scholarship award to a local student who plans to pursue a career in medicine.

Stephanie Goldberg, 17, a senior at North Rockland High School, is this year's recipient. She has done extensive volunteer work at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw.The society also will announce its new officers for the year.

Marc Levine, a Pomona otolaryngologist, will lead the group.

Levine said he would work during his term to improve communication between local doctors and elected officials.

"We want them to be aware of the challenges we face, he said."