It’s easy to communicate with Sophia Zhitomirsky, MD, practitioner of geriatric medicine at Ryan Health | West 97th Street. After all, she speaks English, Hebrew, Russian, and is learning French and Spanish. “I enjoy learning languages,” she says. “I was born in Russia, and that’s what my family speaks. I was raised in Israel. And I have been learning French in the past few years, but we have such a large Spanish-speaking population at Ryan Health, I now feel it’s my duty to learn Spanish.”
Dr. Zhitomirsky is a gerontologist, specializing in elder care. Her patients are age 65 and up, and often with complex medical histories. It’s a field she’s passionate about.
“Gerontology is the study of physical, mental, and social changes in people as they age,” she says. “My role is to ensure patients and their families get the care they need as they enter their golden years. We need to help people stay active and independent as much as possible but also set appropriate expectations for people as they age. I also focus on lifestyle adjustments patients can make to preserve their health and their memory. Feeling unwell or having a condition that is not fully controlled affects your energy level and mood. Being active and sociable helps with your motivation to manage physical ailments.”
Dr. Zhitomirsky says she was interested in geriatrics early in her professional studies, drawn to the combination of internal medicine and the social aspects of geriatric medicine and palliative care. “These two fields take internal medicine and tailor that knowledge to a specific patient and their preferences in a cultural context.
She received her bachelor’s degree in medical sciences and her medical degree at The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel. Then she conducted both her Internal Medicine Residency and her Geriatrics and Palliative Care Integrated Fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine of Mount Sinai before joining Ryan Health last fall.
“I always imagined myself living in a different country,” she says. “Growing up in a multicultural society, it’s natural to want to explore other places.”
Her sense of adventure led her to New York City after her medical training in Israel.
“New York City is at the forefront of medicine and the best training available,” she says. “I always aimed for here. I am a big lover of big cities. The combination of the highs and lows sits well with me.”
She enjoys the City’s culture, especially live music — jazz, indie rock, and classical concerts are a fun pastime. She loves cooking and eating too, and professes to be a good cook. “But my favorite part of the city’s food culture is reading restaurant reviews.”
In quiet times, she’s a big reader but is now more drawn to audiobooks.
“I’ve been a bookworm since I learned to read,” she says, “but with a busy schedule, I now listen to audiobooks. I realized I wasn’t reading as much, so I took on audiobooks as a compromise, and they grew on me. I always have a historical biography or a 20th-century history book in my ear. It calms me down and distracts me. It’s better than reading the news.”
