For Immediate Release
FORMER DOCTOR OVERCOMES ADVERSITY TO WIN TOP ENGLISH AWARD AT TRINITY
HARTFORD, Conn., May 18 -- When Jonathan B. Stolzenberg receives a degree from Trinity at the school's 174th Commencement on Sunday, it won't be the first time he has received a college degree, but it will be the most meaningful.
Stolzenberg, a former medical doctor whose career tragically ended when he sustained a brain injury, will receive a master's degree in English. Later that same day, he will receive the Paul Smith Distinguished Master's Thesis Award for writing the best graduate thesis in English. Stolzenberg's thesis was a collection of 27 poems, many of which deal with the changes that have occurred in his life over the past eight years.
"For me, this is the most important commencement in my life. More than Harvard. More than medical school," says Stolzenberg, a 51-year-old Hartford resident. "This commencement has the deepest meaning to me because of the great connections I have with the faculty and the school that offered me this opportunity at this point in my life."
Stolzenberg's life has always been one of accomplishment. He attended Kingswood School in West Hartford, where he received many honors, and graduated with highest honors in 1971 from Harvard University, where he also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He then completed his medical degree at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1974 and performed his residency in the South Bronx and East Harlem in New York City, then was on the faculty of New York Medical College.
Stolzenberg returned to Connecticut in 1979 and joined the staff at Newington Children's Hospital and the University of Connecticut Medical School staff. At the Children's Hospital, he served as clinical director of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, and as medical director of the program for evaluation for development and learning. He also was the founder of the Newington Children's Hospital Child Protection Team. In 1981, he began a private practice of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, as well as medical and family psychotherapy. He also taught and supervised other professionals and was active in community service.
After 10 years in private practice, Stolzenberg's life and career took an unexpected turn in 1991. In September of that year, he visited a local hospital seeking treatment for muscle spasms in his back. The attending physician, suspecting a heart attack, treated Stolzenberg with nitroglycerin and other drugs.
"Nitroglycerin blows open your arteries, which is good if you are having a heart attack," Stolzenberg says. "But I was sensitive to nitroglycerin -- I went in for a muscle spasm and left with a brain injury."
Specifically, Stolezenberg sustained a hypoxic brain injury because the treatment he received cut off the oxygen supply to areas of his brain. "It was like I had lots of little strokes all over my brain," he explains.
Unable to read and speak clearly, and also experiencing seizures and other debilitating side effects, including attention deficit disorder, Stolzenberg closed down his practice and gave up practicing medicine. He then used the next years trying to refocus his life, spending much of that time on meditation retreats and in rehabilitation. About three years ago, after adapting to his disabilities, he rediscovered his talent for writing. As a youth he loved to write, and as a college freshman he had a play he had written performed at Harvard's experimental theater. He also wrote some poetry while a doctor, but he had no real passion for a literary career.
After auditing a literature class and a poetry workshop in the English department at Trinity, Stolzenberg applied and was admitted into the College's master's degree program in English with a concentration in creative writing. Once immersed in the program, Stolzenberg discovered that he was more than an able writer and, more importantly, that he could handle being in an academic environment.
According to poet and Professor of English Hugh Ogden, Stolzenberg also is a gifted teacher. "He's been a joy," Ogden says of Stolzenberg. "He was my TA (teacher's assistant) this year. He works unbelievably well with students. If he wants to, he can go on and teach, and he would be indispensable. His story is one of those truly amazing stories."
Stolzenberg is also fond of Ogden, saying the professor has been "incredible." In addition to Ogden, he credits Elizabeth Libbey, another Trinity poet who mentored his work, the English department, and the graduate studies program for being supportive of his quest for a degree. "To me, Trinity is like a treasure chest, and I've just explored one small corner," he says.
Now that he has completed his degree, Stolzenberg says that his major focus will be on creating poetry, although he may expand into writing fiction and drama. He is unable to return to medicine, although he still maintains contact with some former patients and associates. Already, he has had his poems accepted for publication in such publications as The Notre Dame Review, The Louisville Review, and An Anthology of New England Nature Poems.
"I am a different person with a different brain and different sensibilities," he says. "The amazing thing is that in my practice, I had achieved what I had set out to achieve. I might have done more, but I'm a poet now and that's what I'm going to do. I wouldn't have chosen to quit medicine, I loved it. But that was my karma and I am thrilled to be where I am today doing just what I am doing. I am deeply grateful to my friends, family, professors, fellow students, and the Trinity family for their unbelievable support. This was by no means a one-person effort."
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Contact: Dean Golembeski, Trinity College Public Relations, (860) 297-2143
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