DEBORAH H. KLONYMUS, M.D., Class of 1958

After graduation in May 1958, I flew to California for a vacation and family visit. I returned to start my rotating internship at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn on July 1, 1958. I started my two-year Anesthesiology residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center on July 1, 1959. This was followed by a one year fellowship in pediatric anesthesia at Babies Hospital which I completed in June 1962.

I started my career as a junior attending in the department of Anesthesiology at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y. in July of 1962. I was appointed an instructor and later an assistant professor in the Dept. of Anesthesiology of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. I became a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology in 1963. I remained at Montefiore until April 1996. I spent a six-month sabbatical leave in 1971 working at the Respiratory Care Unit of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In October of 1973 I flew to Israel and worked as a volunteer in the Dept. of Anesthesiology at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem during the Yom Kippur War. I remained there for one month.

Part of my duties as an attending at Montefiore included organizing assignments and lecturing to medical students during their clerkship time in Anesthesiology.

In March of 1977 I married Amiram Rigai, an Israeli-born concert pianist and composer. He performed widely around the world. I accompanied him to some of his performances in the U.S., but was unable to be present at many of his performances in Europe, Central and South America and the Far East. He passed away in 2004. Our son Jonathan lives in New York and recently celebrated his thirtieth birthday.

Would love to hear from classmates and find out some of your doings for the past fifty years.