From a very young age Stephanie Torres, DO knew that she wanted to be a pediatrician. “My mom will say that I have wanted to be a doctor since I was five,” said Torres. “But I don’t think I knew it was something I really wanted to do until high school.”
Growing up surrounded by cousins that were younger than her didn’t hurt either says Torres, who also volunteered at a daycare for a time. “I thought I might change my mind about pediatrics at some point, but in school it was the rotation that I enjoyed the most, even when I was tired.”
A Vineland High School grad, Torres attended Rutgers University and the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Stratford, New Jersey. She completed her residency in pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Dr. Torres started with CompleteCare in February 2015, practicing primarily in the Medical & Dental Professionals location on New Jersey Avenue in Wildwood where she loves seeing her patients grow. “I’m still getting to know all of my patients, but the reason why I love pediatrics is the continuity. It’s awesome to have newborns that I am now seeing meet milestones at their two, four and six month visits.”
The connection of care that CompleteCare allows her to provide her patients is one of the things she says attracted her to the job in the first place. “One of the main reasons why I wanted to work at CompleteCare was how much variety there is,” said Torres. “CompleteCare has an OB program to care for moms and when the baby is born they can flow right into peds and because of the specialties that are available I can easily refer them to the eye doctor or dermatologist if needed. It’s a great network for patients.”
Despite being new to practicing pediatrics, Dr. Torres says it doesn’t take long to see how big of an issue childhood obesity has become. “It’s hard for parents to grasp that their kids are overweight to the point where they have abnormal labs and conditions that we used to only see in adults,” said Torres. “I just try to stress that they should be letting their kids do what they should be doing anyway, which is running around and sweating and exercising. I also try to council parents on healthy eating, but at the end of the day sometimes it just takes a reminder that kids should only have one dessert a day and that you can’t tell your kids to eat fruits and vegetables if you’re not eating them too.”
In her free time, Torres, whose family still lives in the Vineland area spends time with family, at church, and enjoys running for exercise.
Dr. Torres speaks English and Spanish and is currently accepting new pediatric patients in Cape May County just in time for back to school . To schedule an appointment for your child call 609-465-0258 or visit www.CompleteCareNJ.org.
