F. Susan Zengerle Cowchock
Fellow 2007-8, Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, Duke University Medical Center
B.S. Premedical, The Penna. State University
M.S. Biochemistry,
Temple University
M.D. Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson
University
M.B.A. Healthcare Mgmt, Temple University
M.A.H.L.
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rabbi Dr. Cowchock majored in Biochemistry and Premedical studies and minored in Comparative Religious Studies at Penn State University. While a medical student at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, she interrupted her course to take a fellowship in Biochemistry at nearby Temple University and completed her thesis work in a study of placental enzymes. After finishing medical school and internship in Philadelphia, she accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York City where her research centered on hypothalamic catecholamine- producing nuclei important in the hormonal feedback loops of the menstrual cycle. Returning to Thomas Jefferson University to complete a residency in Internal Medicine, she then joined the Jefferson faculty and was board certified in Internal Medicine as well as Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases. After joining the practice of the Division of Clinical Genetics, she also became board certified in Clinical Genetics.
Dr. Cowchock’s clinical focus while at Jefferson was on pregnancy loss, as Joint Professor of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology. She and her associate Dr. J. Bruce Smith co-founded a Pregnancy Loss Center covering all aspects of pregnancy loss, including reproductive immunology and genetics. Her laboratory served as the screening and diagnostic laboratory for the birth defects known as neural tube defects, and measured antiphospholipid antibodies that are an important cause of clotting and pregnancy loss in women. Dr. Cowchock moved to New York University Medical Center, and there studied chaplaincy part time at the Healthcare Chaplaincy of New York. The focus of her career shifted to pastoral care and counseling of women with pregnancy loss. After completion of rabbinical school and ordination as a Rabbi, she became a provisionally board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. The fellowship at the Center will allow her to learn to conduct sound and meaningful research in this new field. Since moving to Durham, Dr. Cowchock has been adopted by a 10 year old Southern belle - part labrador and part shepherd - named Ashley.
