Page 89 - LBHS Reunion Album V3

Yvonne S. Thornton

After graduating from Long Branch High School, I received my bachelor’s degree in science
(biology) with distinction from Monmouth College. I earned my doctor of medicine (M.D.)
degree with honors from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed
my training in obstetrics and gynecology at The Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Post-
doctoral subspecialty training in high-risk obstetrics enabled me to become the first black woman
in the United States to be Board-certified in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

In my career, I have delivered 5,542 babies and as an attending obstetrician have supervised over
12,000 deliveries. I married my medical school sweetheart (Dr. Shearwood J. McClelland—an
orthopædic surgeon) and we have been married for 41 years. We have two children, our son, also
a physician, is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University and received his M.D. from Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons and our daughter is a graduate of Stanford
University with an M.P.H. in sociomedical science from Columbia University. She has
completed her medical studies and is now in the midst of earning her M.B.A. in health care.

My family biography “The Ditchdigger’s Daughters” became a national bestseller, was adapted
into an award-winning movie and was translated into 19 languages. My second memoir,
SOMETHING TO PROVE, was the Grand Prize Winner of the New York Book Festival. My
husband and I volunteered for active military service as Lieutenant Commanders in the United
States Navy. In 1996, I earned my M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management from Columbia
University and I am currently a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and still practice
in New York. My hobbies are competitive ballroom dancing, tennis and needlepoint. One of the
highlights of my life was meeting President Barack Obama. Long Branch High School gave me
my foundation and I will be forever grateful to those who helped me succeed.