Susan Reid Hemley MD

Dr. Hemley was one of 85 women who enrolled at MIT in 1962 and then the youngest woman ever to do so at age 15. She graduated from Harvard University and earned her medical degree from the University of Paris Faculté de Médicine de Paris where she also taught and received a doctorate in neurophysiology for research on the transmission of nerve impulses. She was a past president of the Mesa County Medical Society.

While at the University of Paris, Dr. Hemley translated the physics textbook Mécanique Quantique written by Noble Prize laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji.

Dr. Hemley’s family, most of them medical professionals, had led her towards medicine and research, but she eventually gravitated towards clinical practice.

She would go on to complete a general surgery residency program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a neurosurgical residency at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. After private practice in Bethlehem, Dr. Hemley worked at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and joined St. Mary’s Center for Brain & Spine Surgery in 2006.

She was born in Forest Hills, Queens on December 27th 1946. Her father was a dentist with a practice in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and her mother a nurse.

Dr. Hemley spoke fluent French and was a long time resident of Paris and New York. She was considered an endlessly generous and unflappable physician and a skilled surgeon. Her love of learning and intellectual vibrancy distinguished her life.

The daughter of William Hemley and Mary (Reid) Hemley, she is survived by her husband Dennis; her three children, Jeremy, Natasha and Joshua; her granddaughter, Autumn; and her brother, Bob Hemley.

A service in celebration of Dr. Hemley’s life will be held at Martin Mortuary on February 12th. The family will be present at 1 p.m. and formal services will begin at 2 p.m.

Memorial contributions to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 16, Milford, MI 48381.