Anna Marie O’Neill, M.D.
Children are the center of both the professional and personal lives of Anna Marie O’Neill, M.D., an ob/gyn and maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Saint Peter’s University hospital.
Children are the center of both the professional and personal lives of Anna Marie O’Neill, M.D., an ob/gyn and maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Saint Peter’s University Hospital. After graduating from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, she completed an obstetrics and gynecology residency and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. O’Neill, 50, lives in Princeton with her sons Ben, 10, and Jack, 5.
How did you become a physician? I was always drawn to taking care of babies; as a child i wanted to deliver them. My parents had almost no formal education and never talked about college or beyond, so i had no idea how to make it happen. While working as a nurse in Maine i was bored and picked up a college catalog. Some friends were taking physics, so i took Physics 101 and loved it— as a woman, i got lots of encouragement and scholarships. i did some graduate work in physics, but medical school was what i really wanted. in my early 30s, i decided it was time to do it.
Your boys must keep you busy as a single mother. When I am not at work, I’m with them. They both play soccer, and Ben is into martial arts too. He’s on a swim team in the summer, and Jack takes lessons. Our big thing now is that we just bought a camping trailer, and we use that as much as we can. We also have a dog and we all spend time along the canal, exploring and exercising. We love to travel. We’ve been to South and Central America and want to go to the Galapagos islands.
Sounds like you’re a lot more tan just a “soccer mom.” Soccer is just one of many things we do together. Lately the boys have been asking about basketball. We call our car “the O’Neill-Mobile,” and its trunk is full of balls and shoes and sports equipment— we keep it stocked and ready for fun at all times.
