Woman Honored for Her 60 Years in Medicine : Recognition: Dr. Lillian Seitsive has been given the Northridge chamber’s first lifetime achievement award.

Dr. Lillian Seitsive has spent a lifetime bucking the odds.

The daughter of Jewish immigrants who fled the pogroms in Russia, Seitsive entered medical school in 1927, a time when women typically became housewives or teachers. Still, she persevered. In time, she became a founder physician of Northridge Hospital, a member of the World Health Organization and an active supporter of medical facilities in Israel.

Today at 85, Seitsive still maintains a private practice and is on the staff of Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

“They say if you don’t use it you lose it,” Seitsive said. “I’m using it,” she added with a laugh.

This week, her 60 years in medicine and nearly four decades of community work in the San Fernando Valley were recognized by the Northridge Chamber of Commerce, which presented Seitsive with its first lifetime achievement award at a dinner.

“Dr. Lillian Seitsive is a unique individual . . . ,” the chamber’s Richard Leyden said. “She has had a tremendous influence not only in her own community but throughout the country.”

“She’s incredible,” said Hank Harmon, a friend who attended the dinner. “There’s not many people you meet like this in a lifetime. Most of us are lucky if we’re still walking around at her age, let alone practicing medicine.”

Friends and acquaintances describe the doctor as charming, sharp, with a history as rich as the community itself.

Seitsive was born in 1906 in New York, the eighth of 10 children.

Seitsive’s decision to become a doctor was rooted in the pain she witnessed at an early age in her own family. Her older brother cut himself while shaving and contracted a blood disease that killed him. He was the fourth son in the family to die at a young age from illness or in accidents, deaths that would be prevented today.

“I was curious about the causes of death,” Seitsive said. “I knew I wanted to become a doctor.”

She said her father was a strong positive force in her life and another reason she chose to go into medicine.

“I wanted to do something that a son would do,” she said, recalling her father’s pain at the loss of four sons. “I’m proud I was able to bring honor to my father’s name.”

Although she was married twice, Seitsive, a widow, kept her maiden name to honor her father.

Early on, Seitsive knew that she was venturing into a field that would not be receptive to a woman. Her first lesson came when students in her elementary school laughed after she announced her plans to practice medicine.

“I was almost in tears,” Seitsive said. “The teacher put her arm around me and said, ‘You do whatever you want to do.’ In later years, she would be my patient.”

After years of practicing in New York, Seitsive moved to Northridge in 1953. At that time, the community had no bank, no hospital and no post office. But with Seitsive’s arrival, it had a general practitioner. She has practiced in Northridge for 38 years.

Her son, Dr. Robert Paul Rood, is an internist at Northridge Hospital Medical Center; her daughter worked with her at her Northridge office for several years.

Throughout her career, Seitsive has tried to retain a personal touch to medicine. She talks of her patients as if they are all friends.

“I love my patients,” she said. “That’s been my life.”

Seitsive has no immediate plans for retirement, which, she says, always brings a sigh of relief and a hug from her patients.

“What greater joy is there?” she asked.