Issue link: http://hvparent.uberflip.com/i/804816
8 Hudson Valley Parent n April 2017 I am a Hudson Valley Parent Dr. Gerda Maissel: Bringing it all back home Photos by Michael Bloom BY BRIAN PJ CRONIN D r. Gerda Maissel just returned to the Hudson Valley after decades away and is busy getting reacquainted with some of its more striking features. "It's gorgeous here!" she says. "It's so nice to see the mountains and sunsets and the trees." But the landscapes and lights- capes of the valley aren't what she missed the most during the years she was away. It's the people - her family and friends - that drew her back home. Maissel was born at the Vassar hospital, lived in Lagrangeville until she was 3 years old, then moved to Wappingers Falls. She graduated from Ketcham High School and after Dr. Gerda Maissel (left) is the chief medical officer and chief transformation officer for Health Quest Medical Practices. She followed the pioneering professional path set by her mother Raina Maissel (right) of Wappingers Falls, who practiced law for many years in Poughkeepsie and was one of only three women in her law school class in the 1940s.