Satty Gill Keswani, MD, RE
Medical School: Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India
Specialty: Infertility Reproductive Medicine
Career Highlights:
Service with AMWA: New Jersey Branch of AMWA
Quote: Women doctors come home to a husband, and men come home to a wife. Thus, for women docs to function, we need the 3H's: 1. Husband-Supportive. 2. Health. 3. Household help.
Biography:
Originally intending a career in surgery, Dr. Satty Keswani arrived in the United States from New Delhi, India, in the late 1950s to find that no surgical residencies were available and that women were not welcome in the field. Instead, she chose obstetrics and gynecology as a specialty and after delivering over 1000 babies became intrigued by the problem of women who were unable to conceive. By 1967, she had found her life’s work and had established a practice specializing in treating infertility. In private practice in Livingston, NJ for over 35 years, Dr. Keswani has successfully treated hundreds of couples for infertility while developing new methods to treat the problem. She has helped pioneer procedures that increase the likelihood of success for artificial insemination and continues to pursue several areas of research in the field of human reproduction, including detecting and evaluating ovulation, and plastic surgery on fallopian tubes. She is a clinical instructor at New Jersey Medical College at Newark and on staff at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.
A strong advocate for women in medicine, Dr. Keswani has served as a non-governmental organization delegate to the United Nations (UN) on population problems, and represents the Medical Women’s International Association at the UN. She is past president of the New Jersey branch of AMWA and remains active in mentoring women in medicine.
Dr. Keswani recalls that the early years were not easy with the demands of a busy practice and a growing family. She’d open the clinic in the morning, leave mid-afternoon to pick up her children, and then reopen in the evening. “I was one of the few women in the field at the time,” she recalls, “but I had good health and a supportive husband.”
In 1986, she was recognized as Woman of the Year in Essex County, New Jersey by the John I. Crecco Foundation. She was also nominated by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ-6) as a Local Legend of Medicine, who wrote in praise of her, “aside from her groundbreaking role in women’s health, she is a beloved mentor and role model to her patients and to junior women physicians.”
She is also a proud grandmother of three.
