Dr. Sima Yakoby Epstein was 13 years old when a head-on collision broke her face. She was sitting in the middle seat with no seatbelt. When she looked in the rearview mirror, all she saw was blood. Her first instinct was to turn to her mother and ask if she was okay.
Her parents were Georgian immigrants who didn’t speak the language and couldn’t navigate the medical system. They went to the local dentist because he was the only one they could afford. What followed was years of surgeries, root canals, crowns and implants. As a teenager, Sima wouldn’t smile. She had what she describes as Dracula teeth. She was embarrassed and sad.
Then she met an orthodontist who looked like Santa Claus. He never commented on how she looked. What he said instead was: great things will come from you. Those five words changed the trajectory of her life. Today she is a double Penn graduate, a former Cornell surgical resident, a former NYU professor and the founder of OrthoNu. She became the person on the other side of the chair.
In this conversation, Sima talks about growing up in the projects in Queens, her father’s 14-year journey from checker cab driver to fleet owner, her mother who was one semester short of becoming a doctor, losing both parents, and why she decided to stop waiting for someone else to build what patients actually needed.
Executive Producer: Sara Glassman
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Follow Dr. Sima: Instagram @simayakobyepstein | Website: orthonu.com
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