FHC Speakers

Nancy Snyderman grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. By the third grade she knew she wanted to be a doctor, following in both her father and grandfather's footsteps. Some of her earliest memories are of the thrill of accompanying her father to the hospital. "He would take me to the hospital on Sunday mornings before the family went to church." Her father, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, made his rounds, he would give her a snack to eat in the doctors' lounge. As a young child, "making rounds" meant eating graham crackers and milk.

Snyderman graduated from Indiana University in 1974 with a B.A. in microbiology, then entered medical school at the University of Nebraska that same year. While in medical school, Dr. Synderman realized that perhaps the biggest obstacle anyone faces is self-doubt. Her residency was an important period for her. She recalled the chief of surgery, a "tough guy," sitting her and her colleagues down because they had not performed well on a standardized test. "He said to us, 'Look, I'm accused of having favorites. And I want you to know I do. Those of you who work hard, you're my favorites.' " The message was clear and Snyderman worked as hard as she could.

She received her M.D. in 1977, initially planning a career in pediatrics. In the early 1980s, she switched to otolaryngology in her second year of residency at the University of Pittsburgh, after discovering surgery. It was during her residency that she began to work in broadcasting, which she continued after becoming a staff surgeon in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1983. She has found she has always been able to weave the two callings together. Being a television correspondent, she found, made her a better doctor, while being a practicing physician made her a better health correspondent.

In 1988, Dr. Snyderman moved to San Francisco, where she still lives with her husband Doug and their children, Kate, Rachel, and Charlie. In her spare time, she enjoys her ranch, horseback riding, skiing, and hiking.

Dr. Snyderman has received numerous awards for her medical broadcast reporting, including an award for in-depth reporting from KARK-TV in 1986, and an Associated Press award for "best documentary" for her work on sex education in Arkansas in 1987. She received the "Distinguished Service Award" from the American Academy of Otolaryngology's Head and Neck Surgery Foundation in 1998. Among many recent honors, in 2001 she received the Athena Award from the Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia University for her groundbreaking work in the field of women's health. And also in 2001, she earned the Trailblazer Award from the American Women in Radio and Television for furthering the knowledge of women's health on a national level.