Hi! I'm Mary Ellen. I live in Oneonta with my simply amazing husband, "J," and my feisty, funny and inspiring children Jamie and Beckett.
I grew up in Alfred, NY, so I'm a small town girl. I went to Ithaca College where I studied Biochemistry and Exercise Science. I was also a softball player (center fielder) for the Bombers.
After graduating from Ithaca in 1997, I went to SUNY Upstate Medical University where I earned my medical degree. It was also in Syracuse where I met the love of my life, "J," while playing Ultimate Frisbee. While at Syracuse, I participated in the Rural Medical Education (RMED) program where I had the honor of living and working here in Oneonta for 9 months while working at Oneonta Family Practice under Dr. Benjamin Friedell's mentorship. While doing this program I was able to get a very good sense of this community along with other specialists in the area. This would factor in greatly in our decision to move back here.
"J" ended up getting a job in Manhattan, so we headed down near the city. I'm not a city girl, so I did my residency at Somerset Family Practice Residency at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, NJ. I graduated in 2004. After residency, I worked at Towne Centre Family Practice in Hillsborough, NJ for seven years. It was a very hard decision to leave such wonderful people there, but we were ready to come back up to Upstate NY...to Oneonta.
I have worked at Oneonta Family Practice since 2010 and have enjoyed my new adventure with Hoffman Family Medicine since 2016!!
That's me in a nutshell. (No! This is me in a nutshell!)
Jennie Buffington, LPN
I am so excited to have Jennie as our nurse!! She is such a compassionate human being. We are all lucky to have her in our lives.
Jennifer O'Dell, Medical Office Assistant (MOA)
I am also very excited to have Jennifer working with us at the office. Her dedicated work ethic combined with kindness and compassion is an amazing addition!!
Hi! I’m Jennifer and no I’m not the nurse Jennie – I’m the secretary Jennifer! I live in the Milford/Cooperstown area with my best friend who happens to be my fiancé Joe and our doggie Rascal. I’m a local girl - growing up in small town Laurens & the Oneonta area.
During my senior year of high school, I did home courses for The Airline Academy. After high school graduation I attended The Airline Academy in Daytona Beach FL. Then I landed my dream job in Syracuse NY as a Flight Attendant for a new and upcoming charter airline – Transmeridian Airlines. I flew until 2005 when the company went bankrupt over night leading me to move back to the Oneonta area until I could get my feet back on the ground.
In 2005 I landed a job at Mallinckrodt in Hobart, a pharmaceutical company. I worked in a few different departments; ending up in the blending department. Throughout the years the company had several name changes and layoffs; leading to the last one I’d be a part of in 2014.
Again, I found myself back to job searching… in February of 2015, I took a job as a technician in the inpatient pharmacy at Bassett Hospital. After a little over a year I transferred to the Billing department and shortly after another year I transferred to the Bassett Family Medicine Office on Southside to where I would finally find my home within Bassett. When a new adventure opened up I soon found myself leaving Bassett and heading into September of 2018 accepting one of the best jobs I’ve had in my life working with Hoffman Family Medicine!!