Medicine With Passion
Where does the inspiration to become a doctor stem from? Personal experiences put this clinician on a path to her destiny as a pediatric neurologist
What inspires someone to become a doctor? Every physician has a different story, of course. For Jennifer Avallone, D.O., a pediatric neurologist at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, there were two sources of inspiration: a high school internship program and family members with neurologic illness.
Dr. Avallone grew up in Long Valley, Morris County. While a secondary-school student at the Academy of Saint Clizabeth in Convent Station, she was required to do an internship. “I enjoyed working with kids, so I chose to intern within the child life departments at local hospitals, including Saint Barnabas Medical Center,” says Avallone, who now lives in Florham Park. She enjoyed the atmosphere of a medical setting and followed the internship by working at a doctor’s office during her summers off from the University of Scranton, where she majored in biology and decided on a career in medicine.
After graduating from the New York college of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Avallone did a pediatrics residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School. While there, she was reminded of her other source of medical inspiration. She has family members who suffer from epilepsy, and the illness had always fascinated her. “I always wanted to understand what causes the disease,” she says. She did research on neonatal seizures while in medical school to help answer that question. She then trained at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, as a resident in child neurology, and as a fellow in clinical neurophysiology and epilepsy.
Because she has family, friends and fellow pediatricians in the area, she always hoped to return home to practice. She was hired this in July of 2013 by the institute of neurology and neurosurgery at Saint Barnabas—coming full circle, in a way. “It was the first job I interviewed for,” she says. “I was fortunate to join this talented group of adult and pediatric neurologists.”
Though she specializes in epilepsy, Dr. Avallone treats all types of pediatric neurological conditions in the office at the Barnabas Health Ambulatory Care Center in Livingston. She also continues to conduct clinical research and hopes to establish a teaching program as well.
In her spare time, Dr. Avallone likes to hike and travel. “During residency, I did an elective in australia and epilepsy work in Bolivia,” she says. “Next year I am going to Thailand—but that’s just for fun!” —D.L.
