Ana Cepin ‘91, an Ob/Gyn doctor, professor, leader and Fieldston alum, epitomizes what it means to think and act ethically. Since childhood, she dreamt of becoming a doctor and upon pursuing the medical path learned more not only about her respective field of obstetrics and gynecology, but herself on a broader scale. Cepin is a board certified obstetrician-gynecologist, the director of New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Family Planning Clinic, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the director of Community Women’s Health at Columbia University and co-director of the university’s Ob/Gyn office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Fundamentally, Cepin is a driven individual with a deep desire to learn and serve the community around her.
This past week, I had the honor of interviewing her and inquiring about her time at Fieldston, her experiences at the school, the important work she does each day and in addition how she got to where she is presently.
SASKIA SOMMER: “First, what prompted you to enter the field of women’s health, specifically obstetrics and gynecology, and what interests you about it?”
ANA CEPIN: “So yes, I am an Ob/Gyn and I always wanted to be a doctor since as far back as I can remember, since childhood. In terms of women’s health, I feel like I was always a gynecologist- even in elementary school I was the one who was teaching everyone about things in the schoolyard and just interested in women’s health issues. Then, it’s actually interesting, when I was in college, one of my summer jobs when I came back to New York was in a family planning clinic, a women’s health clinic that provided sexual and reproductive healthcare to women in the Washington Heights community. I really enjoyed the work that I did there so that, again, made me interested in women’s health. In medical school, in your third year you rotate through a variety of different specialties like pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery etc. and decide what it is that you want to pursue. I went in with an open mind knowing I was interested in women’s health and then, having gone through everything, did ultimately decide to continue to do women’s health and pursued an Ob/Gyn residency.”
SS: “That is so interesting, wow. Medicine as a whole is often regarded as an innovative, ever-changing field. What are some of the ways that you, being an Ob/Gyn, have seen your field or medicine in general evolve as you have been a part of it?”
AC: “I have been practicing now for over 20 years, and certainly the science has changed like there are new therapies for things we didn’t have before and new understanding of how things happen that we didn’t have before. One of the things that is most interesting is, for example, cervical cancer is an awful cancer- we do pap smears to try to find when there is a pre-cancer so we can treat it. During the course of my career we discovered that cervical cancer is due to HPV, the human papillomavirus, and developed a vaccine against it. That’s something that I’ve witnessed that happened within my career’s lifetime which is, like, crazy that we figured out what causes cervical cancer and ways to prevent it with vaccination. Medicine has changed a lot since I first started. Now things are electronic, we have an electronic medical record which is great for a number of reasons: you can communicate information from one place to the other and don’t have to decipher hand-writing. It has also made it so there is additional work involved in terms of messages and lab results, so it has just created a lot more work. I also think the training of medicine has changed. It is still very grueling to become a doctor, but I think the way medicine is taught has evolved during the years and is a little less grueling than it was in my day.”
SS: “That is good to know as I know that at Fieldston there is a Future Medical Professionals club and such an interest among Fieldston students in regards to the medical field. What advice would you have for Fieldston students or high schoolers in general who are either looking to go into your profession or are interested in medicine?”
AC: “I mean, I think it is still a great career. If you are really passionate about medicine, then you should certainly pursue that dream. I think it is important to know how difficult it is; medical school is four years and then you have to do a residency and sometimes you do a fellowship after that, so you essentially spend your twenties in training. I think that’s a really important aspect of medicine to know, you know, to become a doctor it’s a lot harder than it is for a lot of other professions. You have to be really motivated and really passionate about what you’re doing in order to get through that. I think that there are a lot of considerations that back in my day people didn’t talk about as freely; things like thinking about what kind of lifestyle you want to have and how that determines what specialty you might want to go into. There’s that work-life balance that for good reason people think about more so and so I think that certainly should factor in in terms of picking medicine as a career and then what you do within medicine. On a very positive side, something that I’ve personally really enjoyed about my career in medicine is that it’s pretty flexible and you can do a lot of different things. There is not just one path and it doesn’t end after your residency. There are so many things you can do; you can do public health, you can do research, you can do administration- I do diversity, equity and inclusion work. There are just so many different things you can do within medicine which is really great because I feel the field can be very flexible.”
SS: “That is so lovely to hear you say because so many of my peers are interested in medicine and don’t have just one path they want to pursue, so knowing the field is so interdisciplinary is a sentiment many would take a lot of comfort in; especially people interested in science as a study and the many different facets of it. To talk a little bit about your Fieldston experience, what are some of the ways you feel on a personal level Fieldston has influenced you or maybe on a broader scale influenced you throughout your adult and professional life?”
AC: “It’s actually very timely, I was on a Fieldston Alumni Panel last night-”
SS: “How funny!”
AC: “-and that was actually one of the questions. I would say there are three things about my Fieldston experience that were very influential in where I ended up. The first is, you know, there is that Fieldston sentiment that we have the capacity to affect change in the world. I feel that as Fieldston students we are told it is our duty to leave the world a better place than we found it, so that is certainly a sentiment that I had because of my high school experience. The second one is the academic rigor. I got a really good education and I was interested in the sciences and had a really good experience with the science department. My advisor was also my science teacher and she was a great advocate and mentor for me. On an academic level, I do feel that Fieldston was very instrumental in my interest in science in allowing me to excel to the point of being able to become a doctor. The third thing is a bit more unique. I’m Dominican from Washington Heights and going to Fieldston was very much a culture shock, it wasn’t easy. I think it’s difficult to come from a socioeconomic background and a racial and ethnic background that’s different from the majority where you are and that was challenged in a number of ways. It was a difficult experience and by the end of it I felt very proud of being Dominican and very proud of my community and motivated to help my community. To this day, I’m still in Washington Heights and still taking care of women in my community, so those are the three things that I would say have been instrumental and influential from my Fieldston experience.”
SS: “That’s so intriguing to hear because when speaking to people that have either attended or attend Fieldston, there is such a variety in the ways individuals have experienced the school. It’s interesting to think about how many simultaneous experiences are occurring all at once and how not only Fieldston, but the people who have passed through it hold so many different stories. On a somewhat similar note, do you have any memories of your time at Fieldston that you most often return to when you think about your years attending the school?”
AC: “I mean, I went [to Fieldston] from middle school to high school so it’s like my childhood. There are a lot of memories that I have, but it’s hard to say or pinpoint one or two memories. When I look at it overall, the things that I most think of fondly when I think about Fieldston were my teachers actually. I can think right now about an English teacher, my science teacher and a history teacher who were all so interesting and their classes were so fascinating that they really planted a seed in terms of stuff I was interested in. To this day, I still feel influenced by the way that I learned and the things I was taught by my teachers, so I think the academic experience was a really impactful one.”
SS: “Definitely. One of the highlights of going to Fieldston has been that all of the teachers are so passionate about the subjects they teach and all have something really wise to say about their respective subjects, so I’m glad to hear you have had that same experience. Also, I know you have two amazing daughters who currently attend Fieldston, what influenced your decision to send them to the school after spending much of your childhood [here]? What did you gain from your experience that you hope that they learn as well or something different you hope they gain from going to Fieldston?”
AC: “Yes, so a couple of things. I wanted them to get an excellent education and that’s something that has happened and is happening, so that was the most important thing- the academics. Also, the campus is amazing and we decided early on we wanted to raise our kids in the city, but at the same time it’s so nice to have a campus that doesn’t feel like you’re in the city with all of this space and so much nature. The third thing that was really important to us was diversity. I think that of the different options in the region, Fieldston has more diversity than we could have had in other options.”
SS: “Those are all wonderful reasons and I agree that it is such a unique experience to live in the city and go to Fieldston as the campus is so separate from everything which can be quite nice. Returning to advice, having gone to Fieldston, what would you want to tell current Fieldston students?”
AC: “I think it is important to work really hard and take advantage of all of the opportunities that a school like Fieldston offers. Everyone should strive to do well academically, but on the flip side a place like Fieldston allows kids to succeed in a number of different areas. Maybe science and math is not something you excel in, maybe it’s arts, but that’s still something that is appreciated and celebrated. Certainly work as hard as you can but also figure out what your passion is and if you excel in that area that’s also amazing even if it’s not like the hardcore academics we traditionally think of. So, that’s what I would tell a typical Fieldston student, everyone is different, everyone has different gifts and a place like Fieldston allows you to identify and develop your gift so really try to take advantage of that opportunity.”
SS: “That’s so true as all of the programs at Fieldston foster such different aspects of an individual and Fieldston has programs for almost every kid and if a program does not exist, there is such encouragement to start it. Overall, that is amazing advice and I think it will definitely ring true for a lot of students. On a bit of a closing note, after hearing what you’ve had to say, what is the ultimate takeaway you would want readers to conclude from our conversation?”
AC: “I am actually at a crossroads in my career where I am doing things that I am really interested in and I think that is something that is important to highlight. I am an Ob/Gyn but within being an Ob/Gyn, I have a specialty in family planning which right now is very timely in terms of the restrictions that have been enacted in this country. It’s a really important time for the work that I do medically. I am also the director of Community Women’s Health [at Columbia] and the goal of that role is to improve the health outcomes of the women in our community and so that’s also very timely and important. I am also co-director of my office’s department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion which, again, is very timely in terms of working towards eliminating health disparities and diversifying the medical force. Those are all things that are really interesting to me so I am really happy to be where I am career-wise. Certainly, being a doctor you do a lot of good and help people, but now I feel like I can help more people and affect change on a larger scale.”
Thank you Dr. Cepin for agreeing to this interview and for your insightful, thoughtful answers throughout our conversation.
