Sylvia Mustonen

Sylvia Mustonen, DO has led a fascinating life with two illustrious careers: first, as a high profile TV news reporter who earned exclusive coverage during the 1967 race riots in Detroit; and second as a physician helping patients in hospitals and in private practice in multiple states.In addition, she was interracially married to a judge and has two grown daughters and two grandchildren.Now Dr. Mustonen shares her remarkable life story and innovative vision for the future of medicine in her...See more

Sylvia Mustonen, DO has led a fascinating life with two illustrious careers: first, as a high profile TV news reporter who earned exclusive coverage during the 1967 race riots in Detroit; and second as a physician helping patients in hospitals and in private practice in multiple states.In addition, she was interracially married to a judge and has two grown daughters and two grandchildren.Now Dr. Mustonen shares her remarkable life story and innovative vision for the future of medicine in her gripping memoir, New Medicine for a New Millennium: A Memoir Looking Front to Back in Time at a Black Woman's Life in Medicine.In the book, she exposes the racism and sexism that she experienced as a Black female medical student and physician in usually all-white hospital and small town environments. She also shares heartwarming stories about the patients she has helped, the colleagues she worked with, the fraud she witnessed, the lessons learned, and the unique populations she has served. Dr. Mustonen does not sugarcoat her story or the realities of her world; she bares all in sometimes graphic language that conveys the drama of each experience.She describes growing up in Detroit, attending Wayne State University, and later medical school at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.While many parts of her life seemed idyllic and charming, like when she and her husband purchased a country home in rural Michigan and enjoyed the cozy-warm glow of a burning stove, her husband's alcoholism created an undercurrent of angst. She coped for decades by attending Al-Anon meetings for family members of alcoholics.At times heart-wrenching, other times hilarious, Dr. Mustonen is a skilled storyteller sharing the rich moments that comprise her 70+ years.Now retired, she offers unique observations about the medical field, and her vision for how technology, robots, and unique devices may transform the field of medicine in the very near future. After learning journalism by observing her high profile mother, June Brown, working as a popular columnist at The Michigan Chronicle, Dr. Mustonen became a television news reporter at Detroit's CBS News affiliate, WJBK, Channel 2. There she pioneered new ground as a Black female reporter, and excelled as one of few Black journalists in Detroit.After the deadly 1967 riots in Detroit, she and her husband, Attorney Arney Mustonen, who had Finnish ancestry, left the racial tensions of the city to raise their biracial daughters at their country home.Then she attended the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan.She became Board Certified in Family Medicine and a Fellow in the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.Dr. Mustonen has a very distinguished career as a medical instructor, medical administrator, and Family Physician. She has served patients in many Michigan cities, including: Lansing; South Haven; Covert; Bangor; Greenville, where she was also the Medical Director for United Memorial Hospital; and Metro Detroit. She has worked in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and the Greatest Cleveland area. Dr. Mustonen has also been Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She has provided instruction for Family Practice Residents at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital and at Botsford Osteopathic Hospital in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and was an Associate Professor (Adjunct) for the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2007, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Dr. Mustonen as a member of the State of Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Mustonen is also an... See less