Dr. Elizabeth A. Poynor is a gynecologic oncologist and advanced pelvic surgeon, with a deep understanding of women's health. Her expertise is in the management of complex women’s health issues. She focuses on the management of midlife women’s health concerns and aging strategies, hormonal and endocrinological health concerns, diagnostic and prevention of illness strategies for women, complex pelvic surgery including surgical oncology and deep excision of endometriosis. Through her extensive surgical and medical background, she is able to care for women in a holistic fashion and uniquely employs both medical and surgical approaches for women’s health.
After completing advanced surgical training in gynecology, gynecologic oncology and advanced pelvic surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and maintaining a successful surgical practice there for more than a decade, she decided to focus exclusively on the care of women in a more comfortable, private, comprehensive and integrative setting. After establishing her private practice, she was noted in 2007 and 2008 to be a Castle Connolly Guide Top Doctor for the New York Metro Area for gynecologic oncology. She was noted to be a New York Magazine, Castle Connolly Top Doctor in New York in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,2013,2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. She is also listed in the Best Doctors in America. She was the first gynecologic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital to employ robotic surgery, and she maintains an appropriately high surgical volume of robotic surgery cases at Northwell Health and NYU Langone Medical Center.
Dr. Poynor graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1984. She then graduated from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1988 and completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. Dr. Poynor completed her fellowship in gynecologic oncology in 1995 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and remained on the surgical attending staff until July of 2006. While developing and maintaining a busy surgical practice as an Assistant Attending Surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences, she also obtained a PhD in cell biology and genetics from Cornell. Dr. Poynor is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology. In June of 2006, after amassing a vast experience in radical pelvic and minimally invasive pelvic surgery, Dr. Poynor established her solo private practice in gynecologic oncology and pelvic surgery in Manhattan. This move was made in order to provide her patients with leading edge, top quality care in a patient centric, calm, integrative and compassionate fashion. In addition to providing surgical and medical care to the highest standards in her field, she provides a distinct focus on the importance of the patient-physician relationship and a cohesive, comprehensive approach to health and wellness. She is currently a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone.
Dr. Poynor was brought up in a family which was based in a small town in central Oklahoma, where she was surrounded by Native American teachings and art. The culture of profound respect for life, nature, harmonious relationships with the world, and the importance of the communication between mind, body and spirit has naturally influenced how she approaches her practice of the art and science of medicine. The Cherokee philosophy that caring for fellow human beings is based on profound respect, and that every life is a gift to be treated with gratitude and respect, forms the foundation for her practice of medicine. Her practice is the intersection of the science and te art of medicine.
Over the years Dr. Poynor has co-authored numerous publications and book chapters on topics in gynecology and gynecologic oncology, and has lectured nationally, internationally and through the national media. As a surgeon scientist her work involved translating basic science principles into clinically meaningful treatments and she served as Director of Translational Research for the Gynecology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Poynor has also served as an investigator in numerous clinical trials relating to the surgical, medical and biologic treatment of gynecologic cancers and has participated in national leadership positions in gynecologic oncology including the Committee on Experimental Medicine in the Gynecologic Oncology Group. She is a leader in robotic and minimally invasive surgery in Manhattan. She currently performs surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, and Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital,
Dr. Poynor provides comprehensive care in allopathic fashion with an integrative approach for complex gynecologic and endocrinological conditions. Not only are traditional therapies offered, natural approaches including lifestyle and nutritional approaches are employed. Medical, integrative and surgical approaches are reviewed for each individual. Through her extensive experience in the treatment of women’s cancers and transition into the private setting, she is able to provide leading edge care in an unhurried and calm atmosphere so that treatment plans and options can be discussed in a private, thorough and highly educated fashion. There is a focus on minimally invasive surgery in the practice and advanced laparoscopic techniques are employed. In addition to traditional outcomes evaluation of operative procedures, there is also attention directed towards cosmetic and quality of life outcomes for patients who require surgery.
Dr. Poynor’s practice also focuses on the care of the woman who is at elevated risk to develop cancer based on an abnormal Pap smear, her personal medical history, or family history of cancer. She has special expertise in the complex management of women and their families who have a genetic predisposition to developing cancers including breast cancer and gynecologic malignancies. Dr. Poynor also provides gynecologic care for women who currently have or have survived cancer, and may be experiencing side effects from prior or ongoing treatments. A large portion of her practice is devoted to the management of menopausal symptoms and sexual health of women who may or may not be candidates for hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Poynor has thus developed a special interest in the management of health and quality of life issues related to menopause..
Dr. Poynor has had a lifelong interest in the role of hormonal health in overall wellbeing, menopause, aging, and complex gynecologic issues such as PMS/PMDD, endometriosis, pelvic floor dysfunction and PCOS. She has developed a special expertise employing not only traditional therapies, but also bio identical and more natural therapies to enhance healing and quality of life.
Dr. Poynor is a respected and sought after source for the popular press and has been quoted in such publications as: Town and Country, More and Redbook. She has also appeared as an expert commentator on CBS, Good Morning America, Fox, MSNBC, Dr. Oz, the Today Show and WCBS. She has served on multiple boards relating to women’s health including Women’s Voices for Change, Cancer Shmancer, TEAL (Tell Every Amazing Lady) and Sharsheret. She actively sits on the medical advisory board of In Kind Space and is engaged with Elektra Health; both are start up companies dedicated to the engagement of technology to improve women’s health. She is a frequent commentator for online health publications. She frequently teaches young physicians in training at Lenox Hill Hospital through operative training and didactics.
She is a supporter of the use of social media to improve health for women and can also be followed on Instagram and Twitter. Her most recent endeavor is the development of the Poynor Health Collective in order to distribute leading edge clinical information and products relating to integrative and allopathic approaches to women's health and wellness. She is also developing an oil based skin care line and nutrition line. Her research focus is on the importance of nutrition, exercise, stress management and the gut microbiome in the maintenance of wellness and prevention of disease in women.