About Michelle
While there are no other physicians in her family, Dr. Seelig knew early in her academic career that she wanted to pursue medicine. During the first semester of her sophomore year at Wesleyan University, Michelle applied and was accepted to medical school via Mount Sinai’s Humanities and Medicine program which was designed to recruit students from five liberal arts colleges and universities (Amherst, Brandeis, Princeton, Wesleyan, and Williams) who pursued a broad range of undergraduate coursework in both the sciences and humanities. Michelle’s senior thesis examined the transition from midwife to physician-assisted birth at the turn of the 20th century; one of the critical findings from this project is that relocating birthing from women’s homes to hospitals had the unintended consequence of disrupting the social aspect of birthing.
Prior to matriculating in medical school, Michelle volunteered at the Washington State Health Services Commission where she learned about implementing health care policy. In preparation for living near and serving patients from the areas surrounding Mount Sinai, she studied Spanish and backpacked around Mexico; one of her favorite expressions that she learned from her patients: dar la luz
Dr. Seelig graduated from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and completed her residency training at the University of Pennsylvania in family medicine. She sought additional training through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research fellowship focused on examining the fragmentation in the American healthcare system and exploring mechanisms to facilitate collaboration between specialists and primary care physicians to improve quality and cohesiveness in patient care.
When she is not caring for her patients, Dr. Seelig enjoys spending time with her spouse, Jude, and their three teen-aged boys who are still living at home; their older two have flown from the nest. Michelle also enjoys practicing Pilates, pushing herself during circuit training, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, reading, socializing with her documentary film club friends, and honing her meticulous organization skills and systems.
