Monika Woroniecka, Stony Brook pediatrician, killed in fall from trailer on trip to view eclipse, police say

A Stony Brook Children’s Hospital pediatrician died Saturday after she fell out of a moving travel trailer, while on a trip with her family, according to state police and a spokeswoman for Stony Brook Medicine.

Dr. Monika I. Woroniecka, 58, and other family members were riding in a 2024 Airstream trailer during the last minutes of their trip from Stony Brook around 3 p.m. The family was traveling upstate to view Monday’s solar eclipse, the family told police.

Authorities said the woman’s husband, Robert P. Woroniecki, 59, was driving a 2019 Ram pickup that was hauling the trailer heading west on Route 12E in Brownsville, Jefferson County, near upstate Watertown.

Witnesses said they saw the passenger door of the trailer swing open, helped by the wind, and watched as Monika Woroniecka hung on to the door before falling off the Airstream, according to police. She struck her head on the shoulder of the roadway.

She was transported to the emergency room at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, where she was pronounced dead.

Woroniecka’s daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend were traveling with them, police said.

Police were investigating the incident and no further details were released.

Woroniecka subspecialized in allergy-immunology since the early 2000s, and completed a pediatrics-allergy/immunology fellowship at Stony Brook University Hospital in 1996, according to her professional profile.

Stony Brook Medicine officials confirmed her death in a statement Monday, and in a statement emailed by a university representative, Dr. Susan Schuval, chief of the Division of Pediatric Allergy/Immunology at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, said Woroniecka had taught “countless” medical students and residents.

“She was known for her calm demeanor, kindness, and dedication to her patients,” Schuval wrote. “She will be missed by all.”

Schuval said Woroniecka had taught at Stony Brook since 2016. She was a graduate of Medical University of Warsaw, Poland, and completed her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

With Nicholas Spangler