Obstetrics & Gynecology

Susan Malley, MD

Dr. Susan Malley specializes in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and has been board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1997. She received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan and completed her residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles. After graduation, she practiced for seven years at The New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell campus. There she served as a full-time faculty member, balancing private practice with responsibilities as an instructor to medical students and residents.

After leaving New York City, Dr. Malley was thrilled to find a wonderful colleague in Dr. Dennis McGroary, when she joined him in Katonah, NY. Together with their newest team member, Dr. Sarah Chacko, a former friend and resident at Cornell, they see patients from all over Westchester in Katonah and Yorktown Heights. A recent mom of three, Dr. Chacko has limited her practice to gynecology.

In the office, Dr. Malley focuses on Gentle Gynecology: taking great care to remove the trauma out of going to the gynecologist, for women of all ages. She has a special interest in adolescents and their mothers, attending several conferences annually on Adolescent Gynecology. As a committed health educator, Dr. Malley spends at least one day/month, (several days/month in spring), speaking with groups of young women about their reproductive health options, risk reduction strategies and criteria for healthy relationships, believing in the need to empower through education. With honest explanations and humorous demonstrations, she eases young women through their first visit with a gynecologist. It is a great relief to young patients that an exam is rarely required before age 21.

As part of comprehensive preventative care to young women: ACOG recommends that teens visit the gynecologist by the time they are age 15. This allows the gynecologist to become an educational resource as well as a confidential advisor, when needed. She then follows her young patients with their pediatrician until they “graduate” at age 21.

At the same time, Dr. Malley sees patients entering the perimenopause and menopausal years. Personally understanding the havoc of hot flashes, she is very attentive to individual patient needs, reviewing current management of hypoactive sexual desire, vaginal dryness, heavy menses, incontinence, hot flashes and night sweats, depression and anxiety, prevention of breast, gynecologic cancer and osteoporosis. With wellness and prevention in mind, she prefers minimally invasive alternatives to the second most common surgery on women: the hysterectomy - number one is cesarean section.

Advocating for women’s health globally, Dr. Malley returned this summer from her first trip to Haiti, with a group of women physicians and students. Cervical cancer is the # 1 cause of cancer death for Haitian women. Thanks to the Pap smear and routine women’s exams, cervical cancer is a preventable disease in developed nations, but an agonizing death sentence in low-resource countries. Following the protocol of studies from India and Africa using inexpensive techniques: "screen and treat" in a single visit, they hoped to reduce the risk of their Haitian patients of dying from cervical cancer. After a week of seeing patients who travelled as many as 12 hours to meet the “dokte pou famn” (doctors for women), Dr. Malley gave grand rounds to the gynecology residents of Justinien Hospital, the largest teaching hospital in Northern Haiti. There, she reviewed the world literature on cervical cancer prevention in low-resource settings, the extensive work from Duke University in southern Haiti, and the modest results of their own experience in the rural North. On behalf of her team (handsupforhaiti.org), she donated the equipment to the enthusiastic Haitian gyn residents to carry on the “screen and treat” method there.

Dr. Malley’s warm and genuine approach often brings mothers, daughters and sisters to the same practice. She lives in nearby Ridgefield, CT with her husband, their three children and 90-pound golden retriever, Charlie.

Medical School: Wayne State University School of Medicine, Michigan.

Residency: Cedars Sinai Medical Center and UCLA, Los Angeles, California.

Special Focus: Adolescent Gynecology, Menstrual Disorders, College Health, Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, Menopause and Women’s Preventive Health.

Professional Organizations: Society for Adolescent Medicine, North American Society for Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology, UCLA/Harbor Obstetrics and Gynecology Alumni Collegium, Hands up for Haiti.

Web Site: www.mcgroaryandmalley.com

Recent Awards: Dr. Malley has been awarded the 'Patients' Choice Award' in years 2008, 2009 and 2010, as well as “Most Compassionate Physician Award, 2010” by vitals.com, and WAG magazine’s Top Westchester Physicians for Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2010.