Meet local mom Dr. Shefali Patel,

a solo practitioner and advocate for women’s health, who enjoys spending her downtime vacationing with her children.

Name
Shefali Patel

Company name
Dr. Shefali Patel MD FACOG

Family
(names/ages)
Drew (16) and Kiran (14)

Job Title
Physician – Gynecologist

Pet
Dog – Enzo (3)

Contact Info
505 East Broad Street
Westfield, NJ 07090
908.232.6001 |
www.drshefalipatel.com

How long have you lived here and what brought you to town?

I have lived in Cranford since 2003, I rented for a year before purchasing my current home in 2004. I am a born and raised New Yorker- this is the furthest I have lived from NYC. When we were moving to NJ we looked at what town would be equidistant between Englewood hospital (where I was working) and RMJ hospital in New Brunswick. I fell in love with Cranford; the small-town vibe, the green spaces, the cute downtown, and the proximity to NYC were all major selling points. I knew I wanted to raise my family here.

What are your favorite family activities?

We are a very active family. We love spending time outdoors, hiking, biking, skiing, road trips, hanging out at the beach, and spending time with our friends. My kids each play sports all year round, so we spend a lot of time at each of their games. We also love to travel and take 2-3 big vacations a year. Our next family vacation is in April to Costa Rica.

What’s your favorite restaurant and/or place to shop?

For dinner, I love Old City Grill – middle eastern cuisine is one of my favorite cuisines – their food is consistently fresh and delicious. For lunch, I love the angel hair pasta salad with grilled chicken from the Gourmet Deli. Dom and his staff are the best!

I love all of our little boutiques in town but Anthem, Augusta Mae, and Periwinkles are the ones that I shop the most for myself and for presents.

What was the best advice on motherhood that you ever received?

The days are long but the years fly by. Now that my son is a junior in high school, this saying truly resonates with me. In some ways, it feels like the blink of an eye from when I brought him home to now. He went from fitting in my arms to being taller than me, driving, having a job, and will be leaving for college in a year. Sometimes when I get caught up in the day-to-day logistics of drop-offs, messy kitchen, laundry, etc – that advice helps me to recenter. Reminds me to slow down and enjoy the present moment with my family.

Tell us about your job or passion.

I am a Board-Certified OB/GYN, but after I had my daughter I stopped delivering babies. In my office, I offer the full spectrum of women’s health from adolescence through menopause. In addition, I am a gynecologic surgeon, I perform all of the gynecologic surgeries with a specialty in minimally invasive surgery. I LOVE what I do, I have the best job! I enjoy educating and empowering my patients so that they can better understand what is happening to their bodies and we can work together to achieve their health goals.

I am in a solo, private practice, I am not affiliated with any groups or hospital systems. In today’s healthcare landscape, this makes my practice very unique. It gives me the autonomy to run my practice the way I want; providing a more personal, boutique experience. My staff and I work very hard to ensure that every patient’s experience is warm, welcoming, and positive.

What inspired you to follow this career?

I had an early exposure to the field of medicine, requiring corrective eye surgery at the age of 5. Even at that age, I was so grateful for how the doctor “fixed me”. I did not have to wear glasses after my surgery; I actually did not need glasses again until I turned 47. I wanted to be able to do that for other people one day. I spent over 300 hrs volunteering at a local hospital when I was in high school and it solidified that medicine was the career path for me. I was accepted into a straight 7-year BS/MD program after graduating from high school. While I was in medical school I fell in love with OB/GYN. I knew that women’s health was what I wanted to do. I was the first in my whole, extended family to become a physician.

Anything we missed?

I love the life that I have been able to build here in Cranford. We have an amazing group of friends, my kids have had the ability to play sports at all levels, they have thrived in our school system, and we have a vibrant town with the most supportive community. I feel like my kids got to grow up in a Norman Rockwell painting!

I am lucky to be able to practice locally in the community in which I live. I have had many opportunities to get involved and bring awareness and education about women’s health to our community. I am so glad that 20 years ago when we were randomly looking at towns that fit our geographic needs, we landed on Cranford!