Michelle Battistini, a popular Medical School professor and doctor of obstetrics and gynecology, died in a car accident yesterday.
According to New Jersey State Police, Battistini, 44, was killed while commuting to work on Interstate-76 in Camden. A piece of debris penetrated the windshield on the driver's side and struck her in the forehead.
She was taken to Cooper Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 6:47 a.m.
`The faculty was just devastated," Executive Vice President and Medical School Dean Arthur Rubenstein said. "When a thing like this happens it's just hard to believe."
Battistini created Penn Health for Women, a women's health program, which provides OBGYN, internal and specialty care for women. She worked at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and at Penn Medicine at Radnor, a satellite of the University's Health System.
After its inception, the women's health program quickly grew to become "the largest initiative" of the Radnor affiliate.
"She developed and led a program that was very innovative and creative... at work, that's really her legacy," said Michael Mennuti, chairman of OBGYN at HUP.
"She was a very charismatic leader and she cared very passionately about work and her patients," he added. "It's hard to lose that kind of leadership on a sudden basis."
Many remembered Battistini for her commitment to patients.
"I knew her in three ways: as a colleague here at Penn, and she was a wonderful colleague and role model for women... and she was my physician," Chief Nursing Executive Maureen McCausland said. "I'm very saddened by her loss."
There "was a rare, loving doctor-patient relationship," said Michael Cirigliano, a general internist at HUP. "Her patients loved her."
Others recognized Battistini's devotion to women's health.
"She was very comfortable talking to the media and informing the public about programs and the specialty needs of women's health," HUP spokeswoman Rebecca Harmon said. "She understood that she needed to help educate the public... about the different kinds of care that were available."
Battistini's warmth, devotion and dedication to her family, with whom she lived in Northfield, N.J., were also well-known.
"We would sit and talk about life and the pressures of this job and the one thing that struck me was her commitment to her family," Cirigliano said. "She was steadfastly devoted to her time with her family."
In addition to caring for patients, Battistini was an award-winning professor of OBGYN and a lecturer on several subjects, including, most recently, menopause management in women who are breast cancer survivors.
"She brought an understanding of women's health issues to the University, she was a renowned teacher and she provided leadership to a variety of programs," McCausland said. "I think she had a vision for better ways to provide care for women."
Battistini is survived by her husband and two children.
