Dr. Crystal V. Pepeljugoski

Crystal Antoine-Pepeljugoski, MD, joined Northwell Health in 2023 as a specialist in hematology and medical oncology. Her scope of practice includes a wide array of solid tumor malignancies and non-cancerous blood conditions such as anemia, bleeding and clotting disorders. Her area of clinical focus is in treating gastrointestinal malignancies.The multi-faceted nature of oncology is what drew Dr. Antoine to the field. Oncology is intellectually stimulating and constantly changing. Keeping up with treatment advances and seeing how they benefit my patients in real time is extremely exciting. But best of all is the human side the privilege of stepping into people's lives and having such a lasting impact.After earning her medical degree at New York Medical College, she did a residency at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was chief resident at Northport Medical Center, and completed a fellowship at NYU Langone Health. After three years at Jacobi Hospital, she was thrilled to join the Northwell Health Cancer Institute. What differentiates Northwell is their robust wellness program and mission to treat the whole person, not just the disease. This aligns well with my holistic approach to treatment.Mapping out a plan to tackle the disease is just the beginning. Dr. Antoine also asks each new patient how they are doing psychologically and socially, do they need support? This comes naturally to her.As the daughter of a psychiatrist, I've seen how stress and anxiety can really impact people's physical wellbeing. In addition to oncological care, I pay a great deal of attention to the psychological aspect. It's a losing game if you're only treating one but not also focusing on the other.To ease stress and isolation, she refers patients Reiki, yoga, acupuncture, guided meditation, therapy or patient support groups within the hospital. These services complement the strong patient-doctor relationship she strives to achieve in order to produce the best possible outcome.Every patient is unique and deserves personalized care. At the same time, we are alike in wanting the same basic things when we're sick respect, compassion, to feel that the doctor is fully invested in our care. To be treated like family. These are things I aspire to provide every day.

Her top areas of expertise are Stomach Cancer, Familial Colorectal Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, and Lynch Syndrome.

Her clinical research consists of co-authoring 3 peer reviewed articles. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years.