Carolyn R. Stern, M.D.

Carolyn R. Stern MD is a Deaf, Board Certified Family Physician.

I am the first Deaf Faculty Physician to work at University of Rochester! I enjoy URMC’s concept of Meliora, and work everyday to improve the lives of Deaf patients and Deaf professionals at URMC.

Since September of 2015...

Carolyn R. Stern MD is a Deaf, Board Certified Family Physician.

I am the first Deaf Faculty Physician to work at University of Rochester! I enjoy URMC’s concept of Meliora, and work everyday to improve the lives of Deaf patients and Deaf professionals at URMC.

Since September of 2015, I have worked as an Urgent Care physician–Instructor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester’s 6 Urgent Care Centers throughout Monroe County. I have also served as the Medical Director and School Physician at Rochester School for the Deaf since July 2000.

I am also proud to be the co-founder of DeafDOC.org (since 2006), with health related videos on YouTube and on www.deafdoc.org, a website with numerous health education videos.

I have been a physician to thousands of Deaf, Hard of Hearing (D/HH), hearing patients, and the extended D/HH community. At URMC, I am a member of the Deaf Professional Advisory Committee (DPAC) under the URMC’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, on the Deaf Patient and Family Advisory Committee (DPFAC) under the Patient Care Experience office under Jacqueline Beckerman’s office, and on the Clinical Cultural Competency committee.

I have extensive experience in public speaking and consultations with multiple organizations, including the D/HH, interpreter, medical, and general community, including university and government organizations, both nationally and internationally, as a role model, advocate, mentor, consultant, and educator.

She graduated Cum Laude from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and received her MD degree from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.

She has a wonderful husband, Al Spanjer, and 3 amazing children.

Carolyn R. Stern MD is a Board Certified Family Physician.

Currently, she is an a Medical Director and School Physician at Rochester School for the Deaf, and works as an Urgent Care Physician at St. Mary’s Hospital (Unity Health System) and Excel Care, PC in Rochester, NY.

She has c...

Carolyn R. Stern MD is a Board Certified Family Physician.

Currently, she is an a Medical Director and School Physician at Rochester School for the Deaf, and works as an Urgent Care Physician at St. Mary’s Hospital (Unity Health System) and Excel Care, PC in Rochester, NY.

She has cared for and consulted with thousands of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) patients and the extended D/HH community. She presents extensively in the D/HH, interpreter, medical, and general community, both nationally and internationally, as a role model, advocate, mentor and educator.

Recently, she has presented at: The Summit on the Science of Eliminating Healthcare Disparities (Posters: 2008 and 2012), Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Summit on Healthcare Access for Americans with Disabilities, and at the 21st World Congress of Rehabilitation International in Quebec, on “Building Bridges for Health Literacy: D/HH, Interpreters, and Healthcare Providers.” She has created curriculum (more than 100 hours of coursework) and taught numerous, highly successful Medical Interpreting courses and workshops in Washington State, Gallaudet University (as Adjunct Professor), and Rochester, NY. She has taught “Human Body Systems for Professional Interpreters” at RIT/NTID.

She serves as a consultant to Federal, State and local organizations, which currently include: National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), National Center for Deaf Health Research (NCDHR), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)/Greater Los Angeles Association of the Deaf (GLAD) (Consultant and talent for a Breast Cancer DVD for Deaf women: “Signs of Awareness: A Visual Guide to Breast Cancer for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Women”), National Association of the Deaf, and the Rochester Institute of Technology/ National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT/NTID).

In February of 2009, she organized a week-long DeafDOC.org-Japanese Delegation (National Technical University of Technology (NTUT)) Symposium in Rochester on “The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Health Care Professional: Achieving Success.” A group of Japanese Educational and Medical Professors, interpreters, as well as a Deaf medical student and Deaf clinical engineer came to Rochester to learn about improving health care career opportunities for D/HH students in Japan.

Internationally, she has presented in China at the Tianjin University of Technology/Pen International: All-China Higher Special Education Conference on "Healthcare and the Deaf Postsecondary Student: Observations and Educational Impact." In Japan, she testified before the Ministry of Health and Welfare; she advocated for the rights of Japanese Deaf, to become licensed health care professionals. She has co-authored an article on "Preventive Attitudes and Beliefs of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals", in the Archives of Family Medicine (2000), and is currently working with the University of California, Los Angeles on another research paper.

Her current, ambitious project is her website, www.deafdoc.org, a partnership developed to improve health literacy for the D/HH community. DeafDOC.org provides health related workshops for the D/HH community, professional development for interpreters for practice improvement in the medical setting, and consults with healthcare providers and systems to improve communication access, as well as patient-interpreter-physician relationships.

She graduated Cum Laude from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and received her MD from Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.

She and her husband, Mr. Alan Spanjer, live in Rochester, NY with their 3 children.