STATE COLLEGE — Mount Nittany Health is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Susan B. Ward, to Mount Nittany Physician Group Rheumatology.
“Rheumatology is a piece of medicine that is still an art, and that’s what I love about it,” said Ward. “It isn’t as mysterious as everyone makes it out to be. The majority of issues have to do with an overactive immune system, so the goal is to modulate the immune system so it can still fight infections and do cancer surveillance, but does not attack the body.”
Ward received a bachelor’s degree from Delaware Valley University in Doylestown and a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She then went on to complete an internal medicine residency at Bryn Mawr Hospital and a fellowship in rheumatology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
For the first several years of her career, Ward taught medical students, conducted research and saw patients at Jefferson Medical College. In 2001, she became the founder and president of The Consciousness Institute and began working in private practice as a rheumatologist for the Arthritis Center of Chester County, located in Exton.
“I had always dreamed of opening my own practice because it was a way for me to look at the whole patient,” said Ward. “I’m at the point in my career now, though, that I want to be a part of a group. I’ve worked at a university hospital system, I’ve been in solo practice for a number of years, but I recently found that I was missing the camaraderie of working with a team of other physicians. One of my biggest strengths is spending time with my patients and helping them to understand their condition and how we will work to treat it.”
In her spare time, Ward enjoys horseback riding and showing horses, as well as skiing, dancing and playing bridge.
