Diversified in several career paths – including medicine, art, authorship, academia and publishing – Dr. Susan Hershberg Adelman most recently served as a pediatric surgeon in private practice from 1971 until retiring from medicine in 2002. During her longstanding tenure in health care, she also served as a medical director for Coordinated Health Care, Inc., and as a clinical associate professor of surgery at the University of Michigan. Likewise, Dr. Adelman was a member of the staff at Riverview Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, and C.C. Mott Children’s Hospital through the University of Michigan Health.
Since 2003, Dr. Adelman has excelled as the owner of her own business, Hershberg Jewelry. Delving into her artistic side following her medical retirement, she has been recognized extensively for her prowess in silversmithing, painting, sculpting and writing. Among her many works, she is the author of three books: “The Rebel: A Biography of Ram Jethmalani” in 2014, “After Saturday Comes Sunday” in 2018 and “From Jerusalem to Delhi, Through Persia” in 2022. She has also lent her expertise to the Detroit Medical News, serving as an editorial board member since 1980 and an editor from 1981 to 1998. Dr. Adelman further served as an editor and writer of a monthly column for American Medical News from 1987 to 1997 and as an editor of the monthly president’s page for Michigan Medicine from 1990 to 1991. She has been featured in Detroit Jewish News for her art, as well.
Notably, Dr. Adelman was the first female president of the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan, the Organization of State Medical Association Presidents, the Detroit Academy of Medicine and the Michigan State Medical Society. She has been bestowed with numerous accolades since beginning her career, most recently earning a plaque from the Wayne County Medical Society in 2004. Previously, Dr. Adelman was named to Top Docs in the Tri-County Area in Detroit Monthly in 1993 and 1995, received the Maimonides Award from State of Israel Bonds in 1993, and earned the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Henry Ford Medical Association in 1993. Impressively, she also earned the Headliner Award from the Women of Wayne State University Alumni Association and the Shin Award from the Jewish Theological Seminary, both in 1991.
To prepare for her career in medicine, Dr. Adelman pursued a formal education at the University of Michigan, receiving a Bachelor of Science in geology. She went on to earn a Doctor of Medicine from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed an internship and residency at Henry Ford Hospital. In completing her medical training, she pursued a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and Detroit Medical Center. Dr. Adelman is certified in surgery by the American Board of Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
