JWI Philadelphia Council to Honor Six Distinguished Women

Six exceptional Jewish women—including a newly elected member of the House of Representatives, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice and a nationally known psychologist—will be honored on May 15, 2005, at JWI Greater Philadelphia Council’s second annual Women of Distinction Luncheon. The luncheon, which is open to the community, will take place at the Hilton Philadelphia City Line. "This year’s honorees are truly amazing in the breadth of their professional and volunteer accomplishments," says Rochelle Schwartz, JWI volunteer board member and luncheon co-chair (with Carolyn Diamond). "I hope that individuals from throughout our community will join us as we recognize these women who have made a major difference in the quality of life for people in the Philadelphia area." To learn more, contact Schwartz at .
Meet the honorees:

Sucha Order Asbell, MD, chairman of the department of Radiation Oncology at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, is known by patients and colleagues alike for her compassion and caring. "To most patients, radiation can seem like magic because it is a treatment that can cure cancer, but does not usually cause pain or make the patient feel sick." She works hard to take care of the whole person, not just his or her cancer. "I try to get the patient to the right medical professional to take care of any illness or injury that could affect their successful treatment." She also is involved in educating the next generation of medical professionals, serving as professor at both the Temple University School of Medicine and the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She has conducted research in the radiological treatment of many types of cancer and has more than 100 articles and dozens of professional presentations and activities to her credit.

Matti K. Gershenfeld, Ed.D., has excelled as a marriage and family therapist, author, trainer, consultant, college professor, conference presenter and organizational leader. She has directed numerous projects exploring women’s changing roles, has studied the impact of divorce on children and has investigated the dynamics of couples, families and male–female relationships. She is the author of 11 books, including the leading college text, Groups: Theory and Experience, and How to Find Love, Sex and Intimacy After 50: A Woman’s Guide. Radio and television programs including "Oprah" and "Good Morning America" have welcomed her as a guest and relationship expert. Her extensive organizational involvement includes founding the B’nai B’rith Women Lena L. Orlow Chapter and serving as its first president.

Harriet Lessy is founder of BuzzCommunications, a Philadadelphia-based public relations and communications firm that specializes in media relations, real estate, sports and event marketing and business-to-business communications. Clients have included the Pennsylvania Cable Network, Geno’s Steaks, Residence Inn by Marriott and the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia. Before founding Buzz, she worked in public relations in several of the region’s largest advertising/communications firms. From 1990 to 2001 she wrote "Buzz," a thrice-weekly column for the Philadelphia Daily News covering insider business issues and trends. She is currently a panelist on "Inside Story," a weekly show on WPVI television that discusses issues from the national and international headlines, and is a regular speaker at area events. One of her earliest forays into civic involvement came as a teenager, when she became involved in Overlook Park B’nai B’rith Girls and served as president of the citywide organization.

The Honorable Sandra Schultz Newman was the first woman elected justice to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the state’s highest court. She previously served as a judge on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Before entering the judiciary, she practiced law for two decades. A senior partner at Astor, Weiss and Newman, she was listed in the publication, "Best Lawyers of America," for many years prior to taking her seat on the bench. Her professional activities include serving as liaison to the First Judicial District (Philadelphia Courts), as a member of the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and as the chair of the Council’s Committee on Terrorism and Court Security. A frequent speaker before both legal and lay gatherings, she has also volunteered her time to many organizations and boards. She has received a number of awards and holds multiple honorary degrees.

Lena Romanoff, founder and director of the Jewish Converts and Interfaith Network, counsels people contemplating conversion as well as interfaith couples and their families. She has organized numerous workshops and conferences on conversion, intermarriage and inter-dating, lectures widely on those topics, and facilitates a regular support group for interfaith couples. She is the author of Your People, My People: Finding Acceptance and Fulfillment as a Jew by Choice and produced the educational video "Who Am I?," which deals with intermarriage from a child’s perspective. She currently serves on the advisory committee board of Faithways, an interfaith family support network, and on numerous other Jewish interfaith and communal boards.

Allyson Y. Schwartz, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November, has been involved in public service for three decades. Her legislative accomplishments on behalf of women and families are nationally recognized. As a state senator, she advocated for better and more accessible health care for women and children, leading a drive to create the Pennsylvania Children’s Health Insurance Program, landmark legislation that now serves as a national model. She also authored a law establishing quality standards for mammograms, making Pennsylvania one of the first states to set such requirements, and sponsored legislation requiring insurance companies to cover necessary women’s health services. She began her career in public service in the 1970s, when she helped establish the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, Philadelphia’s first women’s health center, and served as its executive director until 1988. For her innovative ideas and effective leadership, the moderate Democratic Leadership Council named her one of the "100 New Democrats to Watch."