Connie Joy Baum was born to homemaker Ethel Stuhlbach and pediatrician Samuel Baum in Passaic, New Jersey.[1][2][3] Her family is Jewish.[3][4] Newman's three siblings are all physicians.[4] In 1970, she graduated as the valedictorian of Passaic High School.[5] Newman completed a B.A. in biology and Spanish from Wellesley College in 1974 where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[1][5] On August 7, 1977, she married lawyer Jay Newman.[2] Rabbi Leon Katz performed the ceremony in Livingston, New Jersey.[2]
Newman earned an M.D. from Weill Cornell Medicine in 1978.[5] At the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, she conducted an internal medicine internship from 1978 to 1979 and a residency from 1979 to 1981.[5] Newman was a fellow in endocrinology and diabetes at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons from 1981 to 1984 and a fellow in endocrinology in endocrinology at the New York University Medical Center from 1984 to 1985.[5]
Newman is an endocrinologist and physician-scientist specializing in hypercholesterolemia and lipid disorders, women's rights, and access to reproductive healthcare.[1] Since September 2007, she has served as a consultant attending physician with the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System.[5] Newman is also, since February 2016, an adjunct professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine.[5] Newman was the president of the American Medical Women's Association from 2019 to 2020.[1]
Her research has covered topics regarding immunoactivity in primates[6], mammary gland development[7], as well as endogenous opioids in women[8]. Her research has been active on 77 publications starting in 1981[9]. On the 2 December 2020, she published as an editor for the book, How sex and Gender Impact Clinical Practice: an Evidence-Based Guide to Patient Care, which had a second edition released in 2026[10].
