The administration and senior leadership at The Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders in Englewood, New Jersey is proud to welcome its newest physician to the practice, spine surgeon Dr. Sam Zonshayn.
“The Center of Musculoskeletal Disorders is thrilled to have Dr. Zonshayn as a new team member. His exceptional training at NYU coupled with his demeanor promise to enhance patients and staff and to add value to all around him. We wish him luck and fully support his initiatives for growth!”
Although Dr. Zonshayn interviewed at a few different practice groups he knew that The Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders in New Jersey was the one for him. “When I met with Dr. Lewin and his team I saw that this was a really good group of doctors who are really proud of their work, take a lot of pride in the work that they do, do good work and really seem like a staple of the community…I knew I wanted to be a part of that team. I wanted to work with this team.”
Dr. Zonshayn is a fourth generation doctor whose family immigrated from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1989. Born in Toronto, Dr. Zonshayn’s family then moved to the United States and eventually settled in the Philadelphia area where he grew up.
Hailing from a family full of physicians, Dr. Zonshayn knew from a young age that he wanted to be a doctor and follow in the footsteps of his father, grandparents and great-grandparents. “When I was a little kid I told my parents I wanted to be a doctor and go to medical school because at dinners and holidays it’s all anyone ever talked about with all their different stories from their medical careers.”
While he was attending college at Penn State, his mother suggested that he go work in a place where he could gain experience with people who required lots of care. So, during his summers he took a job in a nursing home and was assigned many different tasks from transporting patients in and around the nursing home to helping the physical therapists. Because he is fluent in Russian, he even served as translator between the staff and the Russian speaking residents of the nursing home.
All that time he spent helping these residents affirmed his decision to go to medical school and fueled his desire to pursue a career in medicine. With that passion he attended Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and. went on to complete his residency at Albany Medical Center. Afterwards he took a fellowship at NYU in orthopedic spine surgery.
Dr. Zonshayn knew he wanted to make this his area of expertise because he sees orthopedics as an instant gratification field. Although patients come in and are in a lot of pain, oftentimes it is pain that can be healed. Through surgery, Dr. Zonshayn feels he can get his patients back to their regular activities whether it is exercising or playing with their grandchildren again. He wants to get his patients back to doing what they love and “giving them their life back, in a sense.”
As for maintaining optimal spine health, Dr. Zonshayn says that whether it is running, biking or any other exercise that one enjoys, staying physically active is key. It is also essential to make sure the back muscles are strong. And never underestimate the powers of a good diet.
