Touro LINKS Fall 2022

Touro is Making a

A MESSAGE FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT, DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DR. NADJA GRAFF

I am proud to present you with the thirteenth issue of Touro LINKS, the annual publication of the Division of Graduate Studies. When I assumed the position of Vice President of the Division of Graduate Studies in our great institution in 2014, I was privileged to work on Touro LINKS together with a dedicated editorial staff. I am now stepping down from the position of Vice President, so sadly, Touro LINKS 2022 will be my final one. Each personal story has provided me with a unique glimpse into the richness of the outstanding schools that comprise the Division, as well as of our sister professional schools. The stories are compelling and inspiring, and they personify the Touro spirit of innovation and dedication to community.

I am enormously proud of the outstanding accomplishments of those profiled in these pages. The theme of this issue is Making A Difference. A Touro education has the ability to make a difference in the lives of students by providing opportunities and by opening the door to intellectual inquiry. That opportunity and promise is then paid forward by our alumni who go on to have impact on their communities and to truly make a difference in the lives of those they serve. We are changing the world and contributing to a better society one student at a time. It is axiomatic that along with achievement comes a sense of responsibility. We all have a responsibility to ourselves, our profession, our communities and to Touro University. For ourselves, we must never accept mediocrity and therefore must constantly set the highest personal standards for both achievement and ethical conduct. In our professional lives, we must aim to break new ground and relentlessly pursue opportunities to keep learning and growing. To our communities, we should be thinking of ways to serve and give back. And to Touro, the responsibility to express gratitude for the education that has propelled us onto a successful career path can take many forms. Stay in touch with fellow alumni, learn more about Touro’s initiatives and consider contributing so that others may have the same opportunity you did to realize their professional dreams. Partner with us as we move forward in the fulfillment of our mission.

With warm regards,

Nadja Graff, Ph.D. | Vice President, Division of Graduate Studies ngraff@touro.edu

6

NEVER GIVE UP

One principal gives last-chance students a real chance at success

TEACHING WITH JOY }

A Rabbi’s recipe for teaching includes huge helpings of heart and humor

REMOTE LEARNING IS HERE TO STAY

Professor Mark Gura shares his insight and wisdom for educators

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Lightening the load for underserved med students

WORTH SAVING

A pediatrician whose heart was made to save abused kids

ON THE COVER

Dr. Syene Cooper is helping students at Albany High School discover their strengths, talents and leadership abilities. Full story on page 6.

Fall 2022

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

Exciting discoveries in the lab may lead to saving lives and alum Irene Berger is leading the mission

CONTENTS

AN EXERCISE IN CONNECTION

PT Yosef Borenstein brought the gift of exercise and human connection to the Montefiore psychiatric patients during the pandemic

FAR AND AWAY

This Alaska-based PA develops care plans for patients in remote locations who have no access to running water, heat, food and regular healthcare

JUSTICE FOR ALL

Homegrown lawyer devotes her life to the underserved in her community

EASING THE WAY

A dose of humor and heart helps Virginia’s vulnerable

A WIN-WIN PARTNERSHIP

Harlem-based Carver Federal Savings Bank and Touro Graduate School of Business get down to the business of educating future generations of minority leaders

COMBINED FORCES

Touro social work and clinical mental health counseling students are learning how to fight substance abuse together

NEVER GIVE

ONE PRINCIPAL GIVES LAST-CHANCE STUDENTS

REAL CHANCE AT SUCCESS

or two decades, Syene Cooper has changed the lives of hundreds of children and teenagers who have been desperate for someone who believed in them when every one else had given up on them — as they had on themselves.

An overachiever from childhood, Cooper, now 41, proudly points to his earliest honor as valedictorian of his kindergarten class. “I don’t finish any school without honors,” says Cooper, who was known for having many internships at one time, complet ing his studies early, making Dean’s Lists, earning two master’s degrees and a Ph.D., all while working full time.

What sounds like boastful self-regard is really profound idealism melded tightly to nuts-and-bolts pragmatism. “I have to be lieve in myself first,” says Cooper. “Or how do I convince my students that I believe in them, that they, too, must develop confi dence, work hard and earn their success in whatever endeavor they choose?”

Much of Cooper’s two-decade career so far has centered around understanding and aiding the most underserved students in New York City and the state. They are so ciety’s poor, sometimes homeless and for gotten kids, those who, Cooper explains, were headed straight into the streets or behind bars, the ones schools had given up on entirely.

He has been a counselor, a teacher, an ad ministrator, an elementary and high school principal, a specialist in early childhood education and much more. His focus and successes have been as a turnaround spe cialist, one who assesses what’s right and what’s not for individual students, creates programs to fill gaps and helps students, whether age six or 16, believe they have a

future worth working toward.

“I’m called in to fix it and make it right, to come up with action plans,” says Cooper, who not only earned a Master’s in School Leadership from Tou ro’s Graduate School of Education in 2005, but also teaches at the school as an adjunct professor. Today, Cooper is one of five principals at Albany High School. The school of 2,700 students is divid ed into five sections; Cooper runs the Leadership Academy, consisting of some 600 students, many of whom have social, emotional and educational challenges. He is designing teaching and learning frameworks, as well as coaching and support net works for teachers, counselors, psychologists and other school professionals. “I’m supporting the su perintendent’s mission and drive for student equi ty and a sense that these kids belong,” he explains.

“In my Leadership Academy, I’m getting to know every student and I’m trying to help them under stand their purpose.”

A key component is helping each student discover a career path, complete with a road map on how to achieve the goal. “Many of our students are from lower socioeconomic communities, so if they want to be a carpenter, nursing assistant, in the food in dustry, a welder, a farmer or go to college, it’s all relevant, if it means they can support themselves and their future families. I believe in them, and I let them know that. My mantra is “purpose over title.”

Turns out the husband and father of two puts weight behind those words. Years ago, when he worked for Job Corps in Brooklyn, Cooper took one student into his home who was homeless and living on the streets, while closely monitoring and mentoring a second student who was not much better off. Today, one is a successful entrepreneur, the other has earned both a bachelor’s and a mas ter’s degree.

“These two dudes will always be like my little brothers,” Cooper says. “I hear from them all the time, and from others, too, who tell me, ‘you don’t know how much you changed my life.’ To help transform a life? There’s nothing more gratifying.”

TEACHING with Joy

abbi Aharon Friedler will do most anything to reach and teach his stu dents at Hebrew Acad emy of Nassau County. Just recently, Friedler, who teaches Judaic Studies and AP Comput er Science to high school stu dents, had been looking for a way to engage a young man who seemed shy and seldom spoke up in class. He discovered the boy was a hockey goalie. “Well, in high school I was a hockey captain,” Friedler says proudly. “So, I challenged him to a shootout, took the whole class with us and I didn’t score a single point. That smile I got after was price less to me.”

Friedler received his master’s de gree at Touro’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies in June 2021. “I had taught for several years before I went to Touro,” he says, “so Touro didn’t teach me how to teach, but without a doubt, they taught me how to be a much, much better teacher.”

He credits the school’s focus on the methodology behind teach ing for making him a more atten tive and effective teacher. “We would have practicums every day in front of our professors and fel low students, and the back-andforth on how to improve, what worked, what didn’t, was invalu able,” he recalls. “You could teach your whole life, but are they get ting the information they need? Are they engaging? Are they

getting context and critical thinking? You can’t just spew data at them. You have to engage them. That’s what I learned at Touro.”

When Friedler taught fourth graders, who oc casionally floated away to their own worlds, he didn’t raise his voice or scold them. He made them laugh and showed them his creative side by changing the school’s Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) program to Drop Everything and Sing (DEAS). He schlepped his guitar to school and whipped it out when he felt a little music was warranted to cheer the class up and give them a break from reading and writing.

He also exudes an innate kindness and sense of joy. During the height of the pandemic, Friedler, a husband and father of six — four of whom are teachers! — decided that Zoom wasn’t working in showing his students how much he cared about them, their education and their emotional well-being.

He would spend hours making cholent (a Jew ish Sabbath dish of slowly baked meat and vegetables, prepared on a Friday and cooked overnight) at his Far Rockaway home. Then on Fridays, he would drive for up to six hours, across three counties, to deliver the traditional dish and wave and talk (okay, shout) to where his students stood, delighted and socially dis tanced, in their doorways.

Friedler, 58, possesses a healthy pride in his culinary skills and would never deliver a cold meal that was meant to be served piping hot, so he connected his car battery to an invert er that allowed him to plug the cholent into a regular outlet.

“By nature, I’m a builder. I do all my own proj ects at home, plumbing, electricity, whatever needs repairing,” he explains. “I’m doing the same thing as a teacher. I’m helping to build people. To me, helping to mold and teach and build young people is the greatest calling. Building people is emulating G- d, who Himself was a builder.”

REMOTE LEARNING

Is Here To Stay

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY (GST) PROFESSOR MARK GURA SPENT YEARS TEACHING TECHNOLOGY TO STUDENTS IN A TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM SETTING. POST PANDEMIC, HE BELIEVES

ONLINE LEARNING IS A SOLUTION THAT WILL LAST THE AGES. HERE HE SHARES HIS INSIGHT AND WISDOM FOR EDUCATORS.

As we’re all well too aware, the COVID pandemic changed many facets of life over the past two years. Higher education was no exception. The National Center for Education Statistics found that in Fall 2020, roughly two-thirds of post-secondary students enrolled in colleges and universities were educated at least in part, if not entirely, virtually. That was a third more than the previous year. In a recent Cengage Digital Learning Pulse Survey, 73 percent of students said even post-pandemic, they would prefer to take some of their courses online. This is an astounding shift in what students want and the flexibility and willingness of universities to accommodate them.

I fear that as the pandemic emergency fades, many students and instructors will draw a fatally flawed conclusion from their experience. They will frame the value and validity of learning and teaching through technology as an emergency measure — some lesser

offer my students. Rather than assigning a short list of print texts to support the class in this format, I curated bodies of digital content that my students accessed on the web. This afforded them far more varied source material and above all, the most recent information and perspective. Further, in addition to readings from a broad range of journals and other valuable sources of text materials, l was able to make use of videos like TED talks and conference keynotes.

To analyze and reflect on these materials, my class used Touro’s Learning Management System discussion boards, which afforded my students a variety of interactions that mirror in-person classes — teacher to whole class, teacher to individual student, student to student and more. My online classes were purely asynchronous. Students joined the course when their schedules permitted, but the technology gave them a worthwhile approximation of being a member in a real class.

version of the traditional model. But there are many advantages to online learning. Among the huge pluses are convenience, lower costs, more flexibility and little or no commuting to and from campus. In other words, many more people can acquire more education with far less disruption.

The shift to online courses was already well underway before COVID. In fact, by 2011, online enrollment rates had grown by 10 percent, far exceeding the two per cent growth in the overall student population. Sim ply stated, if properly understood and implemented, technology can provide a rich learning experience. For a number of years in my own career, I taught in traditional classrooms in several schools, including Fordham University. Later, I began teaching graduate courses online for the Touro Graduate School of Education. Almost immediately, I saw all I could

Enter Zoom and similar platforms for online conferencing. My students and I now meet in real time, following a set schedule, and speak to one another as we would if we were sitting side by side. Together, we can share inspiring learning experiences, such as watching and commenting on video content from thought leaders around the world.

My current students enjoy a blend of asynchronous (pre-Zoom era) and synchronous experiences in my online classes. Our mutual learning needs dictate which functions we select from this broad range of capabilities and how we make use of them. This is truly “next level” education.

I believe schools must recognize and commit to the extraordinary possibilities technology offers to expand opportunities and provide the very best learning experiences.

" My current students enjoy a blend of asynchronous (pre-Zoom era) and synchronous experiences in my online classes. This is truly 'next level' education."

humble BEGINNINGS

The murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer, and the racial disparity in healthcare laid bare during the COVID crisis, tore through Omobola Onikoyi’s very soul. Nothing had been easy for Onikoyi, a young black woman who struggled financially to put herself through medical school. The social strife of the Summer of 2020 had left her feeling angry and bereft. But she did what she has always done. She countered hopelessness with action.

A graduate of Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM), in 2018, Onikoyi convinced four of her fellow alums to join her in pooling money for an annual scholarship to an underserved student at TouroCOM Harlem. The student would receive a free year of online access to the UWorld Medical Board Prep. “UWorld is one of the best, if not the best, medical board prep program,” says Onikoyi, who began a dermatology residency in July at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. “Your score on the boards determines what field you’re going into and being adequately prepared can make all the difference if you are successful or not. I don’t want anyone else to have to struggle to afford an invaluable tool for their future because they can’t take on a single extra cost.”

So far, two annual scholarships have been awarded, one in 2020, and the second in late 2021. A thank you email from the first recipient brought Onikoyi to tears. “You learn about their hardships, their backgrounds and how this will change their life,” she says. “Wow, did I cry. I can feel their gratitude in my bones.”

Dr. Onikoyi was reared in Providence, Rhode Island, by loving, supportive

parents. But their financial situation was anything but privileged. That didn’t stop the little girl who carried around a pretend doctor kit and a dream since she was four. “I always wanted to be a doctor,” says Onikoyi, 33. “But I had never met a physician who looked like me. There have been many hurdles, sometimes it even felt impossible, but I was determined to be a physician in

She credits Touro for making her feel that she belonged in medical school. “They helped me realize my dream, the staff, the professors, the diversity of my fellow students,” she says. “Touro gave me permission and the push to understand that I, too, could

It’s more likely Touro validated and nurtured what was already deep in her DNA. “I’m made this way,” she says. “We didn’t have wealth, but I had the love and support of my parents, telling me to go out there and do it. They had my back. I want to be that support for others.”

After college at the University of Rhode Island and before entering Touro, Onikoyi took some time to earn money for med school and gain experience by working at Brown University’s

Department of Pediatrics and Endocrinology Laboratory.

She learned that she loved, and had a talent for, research. “I immersed myself in the sciences for three years,” she says. “I love interacting with people and seeing them get better. But I also find the science part intellectually stimulating and exciting. I want to do both.”

Initially, Onikoyi planned on becom ing an obstetrician and gynecolo gist. “I wanted to be a part of the birthing process,” she says. “It’s so beautiful and miraculous.” But then two close relatives were diagnosed with skin cancer in a short time span and, of course, she wanted to offer medical guidance to the peo ple she loves.

She was fortunate in that she took to her dermatology rotation. “Before that, I thought dermatology was all acne and fillers,” she says, laughing.

“It’s a field that encompasses medicine, pathology, a bit of noninvasive surgery, oncology. I thought it was very cool that I could visually see the pathology on patients. And I could treat it and physically see that it’s getting better. Amazing!”

After many years and hurdles, Onikoyi remains optimistic: “Here I still am!”

She can’t wait to be a practicing physician. “At my core,” she explains, “this profession of caring and helping just suits me.”

MORE

WORTH SAVING

WHOSE HEART WAS MADE TO SAVE ABUSED KIDS

s a child, Kia Sanford convinced her mom to take her to the pediatrician frequently. “I would pretend to be sick and not getting better,” she recalls. “Once at the office, I’d say ‘Oh, I’m feel ing better now,’ and ask the pediatrician for gloves, test tubes, tongue depressors and all kinds of doc tor stuff. I scored every time. Eventually my mother figured out my scam.”

Swell swag aside, Sanford never recalls a time when she didn’t want to become a doctor, specifically a pediatrician. “Good thing, because pediatrics was my last rotation in med school and I hated every thing that came before it,” she says, laughing. “But I loved pediatrics even more than I knew I would as a little girl.”

A 2015 graduate of Touro College of Osteo pathic Medicine, San ford has begun the first year of a prestigious three-year fellowship at the University of Flor ida, Jacksonville, De partment of Pediatrics, Division of Child Protection and Forensic Pediatrics. “Basically, I’m a child abuse pediatrics fellow,” ex plains Sanford, 35. “I hope to incorporate my even tual practice being able to identify and stop child abuse cases and collect the evidence to be an ex pert witness on behalf of the children; that’s the fo rensics portion. The other part of my practice will be as a regular pediatrician, one who sees healthy and loved children. I want and need both.”

Her determination began after seeing far too many hurt babies and children during her residency. In particular, one little boy with head trauma shred ded her heart. “His case had been closed twice and he was sent back home,” she says. “His stepfather killed him. That was it. If I can do something to stop this from happening again, that’s what I will do.”

Sanford was reared in Sacramento, California, by her mother. She was 15 when her mother died. She went to live with her father. In her first year of medical school, Sanford suffered a bout of depression that forced her to leave school. Once she regained her health, Touro administrators, professors and her fellow students welcomed her back with open arms. “I got good grades, worked hard, excelled,” she says. “I remember, at my graduation, my dean looked at me and said, ‘You are why I’m so glad we give people second chances.’ I will never forget that moment.”

She remains incredibly grateful to Touro, not sim ply for the excel lent professors and hands-on experience at top-notch hospi tals and labs, but for the deep compassion she was shown.

These days, San ford focuses on data collection to prove abuse in court, as well as identifying what’s going on when a baby or child is in her care, ear ly enough for her young patients to survive and thrive. “The primary care pediatrician is the gate keeper,” she says. “I can do damage control, step in, help and get courts and therapists and others to help. There are happy endings, I promise. But I want the bad endings to become fewer and fewer and fewer.”

To keep herself healthy and optimistic, Sanford takes dance classes, fast, fast, rhythmic, ecstat ic, Latin dancing, that raises her spirits and her heart rate. She also hangs out with her two dogs (“my children”). “It takes heart to do this work,” she says. “Not everyone has it. But that’s okay, be cause I have it and it’s the work I want and was meant to do.”

“I LOVED PEDIATRICS EVEN MORE THAN I KNEW I WOULD AS A LITTLE GIRL.”

A WORLD of DIFFERENCE

EXCITING DISCOVERIES IN THE LAB MAY LEAD TO SAVING LIVES AND TOURO COLLEGE OF PHARMACY (TCOP) ALUM IRENE BERGER IS LEADING THE MISSION

fter graduating from Brooklyn College, Irene Berger thought her future would be in clinical pharmacy. That was before she got started in Touro College of Phar macy’s unique Research Track, where she studied how to defeat a key pathogen that leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breath ing-related problems like emphysema and chronic bronchitis. COPD makes breathing difficult for the 16 million Americans who have it and is the third leading cause of death by disease in the United States and the world.

In January 2021, Berger won second place at the school’s poster competition for the quality and cre ativity of her research and clarity of her presentation.

She demonstrated that a natural compound inhibits the growth of a key pathogen implicated in serious COPD infections and that the effects of the compound are greater depending on the dose and the timing.

“We solidified the idea that the compound had the antimicrobial effects against the pathogen. We didn’t know that before and needed to really prove it,” said Berger, now a third-year student at TCOP who is writing up her results to submit for publi cation while continuing to conduct experiments in off-hours, after classes are finished.

She is also a member of a Touro research team that is collaborating with investigators at Columbia Uni versity’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, working on a novel drug delivery device for COPD patients.

We caught up with Berger to learn more about her research:

Why did you choose to work on this project?

I was attracted to the project because of the significant impact the re search could have on patients, with COPD being the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and globally. Nearly 380 million people worldwide are diagnosed with COPD and approximately three million patients suffering from COPD die every year. The disease causes serious long-term disabil ity and early death, triggered by serious infections caused by the respiratory bacteria I’ve been study ing. The work could really help these patients and prevent mortality because once they have infec tions, without a viable treatment, it could lead to poor outcomes.

What are the goals of the project?

The overall goal of our research project is to find a new, effective way of inhibiting the growth of re spiratory pathogens, which we know can lead to negative prognoses in patients with deadly respi ratory diseases like COPD. Current treatment op tions for patients with these deadly diseases have various limitations. Most notable is the rising prev alence of antibiotic resistance, which renders most antibiotics ineffective in inhibiting the growth of bacteria. They also have side effects. The medical world has begun to redirect its focus, showing a growing interest in discovering suitable new rem edies. We are working to demonstrate how natural products can serve as an alternative. Our lab, led by Dr. Zvi Loewy, has made key advances in this area over the past couple of years, starting with a large-scale epidemiological study of nearly 15,000 patients that has evolved into other studies using state-of-the-art methodologies.

Is this research new?

When I was introduced to the project, the lab had already made sig nificant findings; they had studied the biofilm life cycle of the respiratory pathogen we are study ing and determined which compound was most sig nificant in inhibiting the bacteria I am working with. My role was to find out whether those effects were dose-dependent. I compared concentrations of the compound against the bacterial microorganism to determine whether there would be any differences in results, and after multiple trials found that the effects of the natural compound were, in fact, dose-depen dent.

Did anything surprise you?

I was surprised to find that the effects of the com pound are also time-dependent. I wasn’t trying to determine that, at the time. I was focusing on the mechanism of action of the natural compound; but when looking at all the results lined up, we said, “Oh, my gosh!” That’s another reason why we’re now looking at design concepts for a novel delivery device for the natural compound. Because of this finding, we are exploring release of the compound in a time-controlled way.

What is the next step?

At this stage, we are working on determining the exact effects of the compound on the respiratory pathogen, in terms of its mechanism of action. We are also moving forward with our collaborators at Columbia University on the design of a device that could allow for the natural compound to be released in a controlled way. As for my career plans, this re search has opened up new opportunities that I plan to explore post-graduation, including clinical re search or research and development, where I will be able to implement what I’ve learned working in the lab at TCOP.

“THIS RESEARCH HAS OPENED UP NEW OPPORTUNITIES THAT I PLAN TO EXPLORE.”

CONNECTION

n his teens and early 20’s, Yosef Borenstein was the aquatics director at a number of summer camps, a role that foretold a passion and a career path. “One student was developmentally delayed and physically chal lenged,” says Borenstein, now 34. “I was working on his endurance, just coming up with exercises in the pool to help him. It was gratifying to see him gain strength and confidence, and I thought, ‘How do I take this to the next level and turn this into a career?’”

Borenstein learned that physical therapy was what he was performing intuitively with his young charge. “That was it for me,” he says. “That’s what I wanted to do.” After graduating from Touro’s Lander College of Arts and Sciences, he was accepted to The School of Health Sciences’ physical therapy program, where he graduated in 2018 with a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree.

“What an amazing program,” says Borenstein, who is married with five children. “There isn’t a week that goes by that I’m not in touch with my former professors. They aren’t only instructors; they are working handson in the field today. They are educators and practitioners.”

They taught him well. Today he works as a physical ther apist at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospi tal for Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. With 800 beds, the nationally re spected medical institution is comprised of over 10 hos pitals and is one of the larg est medical providers in New York State.

An athletic person who be lieves aerobic exercise in some form can help everyone phys ically and emotionally, Boren stein has created an in-patient fitness program for psychi atric patients at Montefiore.

Before COVID-19 vaccines were available, the physical therapists and all other hospi tal clinicians were only in the psychiatric ward on a limited basis, for fear of a viral spread.

LEARN

“Everyone was so isolated, but especially our psychiatric patients, who already struggle with social interactions,” he says. “People think psychiatric patients are all homeless or drug addicts, and they’re mostly wrong.

We treat doctors, lawyers, bankers, business men, a lot of severely depressed and bipo lar people, who felt even more alone during the pandemic. Look, the pandemic did us all in, but for many of these patients, it was the trigger that landed them here.”

As COVID-19 numbers decreased and vacci nations became readily available for health providers, Borenstein and the other physical therapists were allowed back in the 30-bed psychiatric unit. He immediately noticed how desperate the patients were for outside con tact, familiar faces, new faces.

“They were thirsty for interaction,” he says. “They would stop us and make small talk and just look happy to see a new face. I decided we had to do something to help them.”

His idea was an aerobic exercise and mobility program in a group setting. “They spend a lot of time alone and live a pretty sedentary lifestyle,” he says. “This would be a way for them to interact with other people — and get moving.”

Already, 12 therapists from multiple areas of focus — occupational, speech, rehab and more — as well as doctors, are participating in the once-a-week program. One is in charge of the playlist. “Upbeat and contemporary music only,” Borenstein urged, “for those pa tients who can and want to join in.” The pro fessionals all have given up their lunch hours to be part of this multidisciplinary effort.

Borenstein says the once-a-week class is not nearly enough. He is now writing grants to turn the exercise and mobility program into a larger research project that will show through data what he already knows: “Exer cise is both free and priceless.”

ick of school loans and longing to live some where unlike any other, Jodie Brewer moved to Alaska. Seven years later, her loans are history and her heart is filled with the satisfaction of knowing she softens the health blows suffered by her indigenous patients.

A 2012 graduate of Touro’s phy sician assistant (PA) program, Brewer, now 34, lives in Anchor age and specializes in both inpa tient and outpatient orthopedics at the Alaska Native Medical Cen ter, which serves natives through out the state.

“One of the great things about Touro’s program is that professors made it clear that there’s no one way to be a PA,” she says. “It’s fine to work in a doctor’s office, but you’re not limited by anything oth er than your imagination and your skills to mold your own career.”

Her job is neither easy nor with out frustration, but the work is challenging and rewarding. “What makes this job unique is the logis tics that are involved in providing care for people from remote villag es,” explains Brewer. “We have to develop care plans for people who have no access to running water, heat, food and regular healthcare. Third world conditions.”

This is rural healthcare at its hard est — winters that are 40 below

zero, cases of frostbite are frequent and severe, transportation from hun dreds of miles away can take days, not hours. “We’ve had patients with broken femurs who’ve arrived from the Arctic seven days later,” she says.

“It’s not like what most of us think, that they get here quickly, are treat ed and are discharged to go to physi cal therapy three times a week for six months. They return to their remote villages.”

“These patients are resilient,” she says. “If the tough 80-year-old woman can return to her village and go back to

picking berries like she’s done every sum mer, that is quality of life. If a man can still go hunting for caribou to feed his family through the winter, that is quality of life. If we can get them to functional capaci ty that is well enough to do what they’ve done their whole lives, that’s success.”

She sees up to 40 patients in the span of her 10-hour workdays. “I can see a range of orthopedic issues from knee arthritis and rotator cuff tears to more acute and serious issues, including open fractures, poly traumas from snow machine crashes to traumatic amputations,” she explains. And those are the easy days. Traveling to remote field clinics often requires a plane, an ATV and occasionally, a seaplane. Brewer and her colleagues are put up in the clinic housing and during their threeto four-day stays, they see some 80 to 100 patients. These patients are suffering from arthritis and are being evaluated for total joint replacement surgery, or they

have follow-up appointments at the field clinic instead of traveling all the way to Anchorage. They also have knee, shoulder and back pain that need attention and injec tions. “Most of these clinics have an X-ray machine only,” Brewer explains, “so if they need further imaging, we co ordinate travel to Anchorage.” These field clinics serve as the service center for smaller villages, so most of the pa tients are traveling by snowmachine, ATV or small plane to come to their appointments.

Now married with two little girls under two, Brewer loves winter sports, including ice fishing, fat biking up frozen rivers to glaciers, and extreme and back-country skiing. Alaska’s abundance of spectacular natural beauty proves a balm to her psyche. “You’re very isolated here and that’s isolated in Anchorage,” she says, laughing. She has come to understand the burdens of poverty and the lack of access to medical care that plague native Alaskans. Though her loans are long paid off in exchange for her years of work at the Alaska Native Medical Center, Brew er has bought a home and has no plan to return with her family to the lower 48. “I love the complexity of every facet of what we do,” she explains. “It can be frustrating at times, even depressing, there is no such thing as a typ ical day. It’s never, ever boring.”

JUSTICE

for

aurette Mulry has loads of vacation time coming and she couldn’t care less about taking it. Since 2016, Mulry has been attorney in charge of the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, New York. She’s the first woman in that job, a role that this attorney and activist for the poor, young and elderly, relishes on a daily basis. And she’s just getting started.

Among her many duties and responsibilities, she oversees more than 130 attorneys. More than 50 of those lawyers are graduates of Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, which speaks to the regard Mulry holds for the institution from which she graduated summa cum laude in 1999.

“It’s a school that presents so many opportunities and an excellent foundation for the practice of law,” she says. “I can’t say enough about the professors, staff and my colleagues, who today are lawyers, legislators and judges and are still some of my closest friends. But the reason I hire from Touro is because I know the passion these graduates have for this kind of work. The belief that justice is for all of us, not just the wealthy and the lucky.” Mulry’s tenure reflects her belief in compassion and action. Her office is the Indigent Defense Service for Suffolk County, and Mulry’s team serves a stunning 30,000 cases a year in criminal, family and appellate courts. A married mother of three adult children — two lawyers and a nurse — Mulry spends time writing grants to help broaden and widen those services. “Legal Aid’s clients suffer from many of the challenges of the criminal justice system like mental illness, homelessness, drug addiction and family conflict.”

So Mulry goes to work, lobbying legislators and boosting the coffers through state funding and grants. During her tenure, she’s added a Social Worker Unit, a Paralegal Unit and a Regional Immigration Assistance Center.

She adheres to the concept of restorative justice and is an active board member on many organizations. Under her tutelage, The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk

County identifies and makes referrals to countyfunded programs that address clients’ issues, such as mental illness or drug addiction, thereby averting the need for police involvement and incarceration.

The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County also has an outreach staff that works with established community faith-based groups throughout the county. “Some of our Touro lawyers come from the same communities that we serve. Touro Law, itself, is located right here in our neighborhood,” says Mulry. “They understand what it is for people to take three or four buses to get to court. We take up collections for bus tokens, or clothes, or food or toy drives. Whatever our clients need, our lawyers and staff are generous in their desire to help make lives better.”

A proud Filipino American, Mulry grew up in Suffolk County. Her childhood was happy and financially secure, with a cardiovascular surgeon father and nurse mother. Everyone, including her, thought she’d go into the medical field. In fact, she was doing pharmaceutical marketing for a time, and reflects, “it just didn’t feel like it was me.”

She became interested in law, but she also got married and had a child. Her mom told her about Touro and said, “You don’t even have to move, it’s right here,” she recalls. “Well, I got in and fell in love with Touro and the law. I just took to it. Now, this felt like me.”

During her second semester, she got pregnant with a second child and was very ill. “I was too sick to go to class. And then one of my professors told me not to drop out and talked to my other professors. My classmates took notes and gave them to me so I could keep up. I would not be an attorney today if not for Touro.”

Upon law school graduation, Mulry took a part-time job in the Senior Citizens Bureau within the Legal Aid Society. ”You learn from everything you do,” she says. “From seniors, I learned that it’s not one thing, just like with other impoverished people. They’re fighting eviction, but then you discover they aren’t

eating well. Many don’t know how to access food stamps, Medicaid, fair hearings in courts and other services.”

At one point, Mulry was accepted into a prestigious tax program at New York University, but by then she had worked at Legal Aid with her elderly clients and there was no going back. “I saw the end result, and that is very satisfying,

encouraging and infectious. It’s a quality-of-life thing, and my quality of life must involve giving back.”

So, about that five weeks of vacation she hasn’t used, Mulry says, “I feel like while I’m here, I want to do as much good with it as possible!”

easing the way

A DOSE OF HUMOR AND HEART HELPS VIRGINIA’S VULNERABLE

Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to im migrant parents from East Africa, Salaam Bhatti grew tired of hearing his grandmother telling him he had to become a doctor or scientist. Bhatti coun tered with a respectful: ”There are enough brown doctors and scientists. There aren’t enough brown lawyers and that’s what I’m going to be, a lawyer!”

And so, it came to pass. Bhatti, who graduated from Touro Law Center in 2011, was the Commencement Speaker, as well as the co-founder of the Muslim Law Student Association. “I enjoyed the diversity of faith at Touro Law, and I engaged with people from so many different backgrounds,” he says. “There were lots of disagreements, but you’re in law school,

so you aren’t going to fight. You’re going to debate and argue your position like you’re in court.”

For the past four-and-a-half years, Bhatti has been a staff attorney at the Richmond-based Virginia Poverty Law Center and Director of Virginia Hun ger Solutions. A deeply religious man with a playful sense of humor and a determination to help others, Bhatti believes that to do well, he must do good. And he does. His work focuses on government pro grams for the poor from the Supplemental Nutri tion Assistance Program (SNAP) to Temporary As sistance for Needy Families (TANF). “We make sure that low-income people don’t have to jump through more hoops for fewer benefits,” says Bhatti, whose center also helps create legislation to help the needy. It also helps to kill legislation that does the opposite. He is prepared to sue the state in order to get what the underserved adults and children of Virginia need. “I haven’t had to sue the state yet,” he says proudly. “We’ve come to solutions through administrative hearings.”

The pandemic has been particularly burdensome on the less fortunate. Toward that end, Bhatti led legis lation to expand the SNAP program, which has re sulted in making more than 25,000 families el igible for benefits. “And it was a completely bipartisan bill,” he says. “Not one ‘no’ vote.”

That’s not all. During the pandemic, Bhatti felt he had to come up with a solution for people who needed help learning about and accessing available services for which they might not know they were eligible. So, he wrote a grant and began a phone-in help line, hiring two peo ple to answer the phones. “We’ve had over 300 callers in just one month,” he says. He also came up with an online calculator that people can access through their phone or computer to figure out if they are eligible for state benefits. “I came up with it out of laziness,” he jokes. “This way, I don’t have to do the math for each caller.” More than 3,000 people have

made use of the phone app, he says. “You know, a lot of the most underserved people also have no broadband service, so it was desperately needed.”

Fortunately for his clients and co-workers, Bhatti has a healthy funny bone. He spent seven years do ing stand-up comedy, something he began while at Touro Law, and still does improv in the spare time he has between work and spending time with his wife and son. He’s no longer ashamed to admit that he may have wanted to become a lawyer for a rea son only he and his mother knew.

Bhatti’s mom was hooked on the legendary televi sion show Law & Order. Her young son soon took up her habit. “I used to joke that I thought I wanted to be a lawyer,” he says, “but I actually wanted to be Sam Waterston, the actor who played lawyer Jack McCoy.”

Bhatti has no career regrets. He gets to play him self on life’s stage while helping children and their families live better lives. “This is the best job I ever had,” he says.

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Salaam Bhatti with Carl Phillips after the two offered testimony at a House committee meeting. Bhatti advocated successfully for bills that expanded essential services to the needy. Phillips is one whose access to public benefits had been blocked.

COMBINED FORCES

hen addiction specialist Carlos Roberts, MPA, MSW, CASAC, gets a new client who is sleeping poorly, having mood swings or engaging in risky behavior, no longer does he assume the cause is sub stance abuse alone. These days, he may see the behavior in a different light — as possible signs of underlying mental health issues.

“A lot of times, it’s the mental health issue that will drive them to use or abuse the substance,” says Roberts, a social worker who works with individuals suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD) and other sub stance use disorders (SUD).

Roberts, a 2021 alumnus of Touro’s Gradu ate School of Social Work (GSSW), gained this insight and more, during his year-long fellowship in a government-funded pro gram. It trained advanced social work and clinical mental health counseling students from the School of Health Sciences to gether to treat opioid use and substance use disorders.

Now in its third year, the Opioid Workforce Expansion Program (OWEP) engages the students from the two disciplines in inter-professional education— popularly known as IPE — taught by Touro faculty and outside experts in both fields.

LEARNING TOGETHER AND FROM ONE ANOTHER

OWEP is funded by a $1.3 million grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Re sources and Services Administration (HRSA). Touro is one of the select schools to participate in the program, which pro vides stipends to students to help fight the opioid crisis and other SUDs among medically underserved populations.

The students take classes at their individ ual Touro schools, while learning togeth

er and from one another in OWEP webinars and seminars. These working sessions expose them to the different models of treating OUD/SUD and how to apply that knowledge out in the field during their internships.

“OWEP exposes students from both schools to the general framework and content of their respective programs, while acknowledging the different perspectives of social work and clinical mental health counseling. OWEP succeeds in increas ing students’ understanding in a common language that helps them work together where they may not have before. When you bring the two together, they gain greater knowledge and insight,” says Eric Levine, DSW, LMSW, Touro’s director of so cial work alumni engagement, continuing education and devel opment.

When the current cohort completes its studies next spring, the OWEP project will have graduated 66 fellows, working at more than 15 agencies spread out across the five boroughs of New York City as well as Long Island, Rockland County and New Jersey.

During 2020-2021, the fellows attended lectures on such top ics as “Motivational Interviewing”, “Mindfulness as a Treatment

Tool” and “Addictions, Trauma, Grief and Loss with OUD/SUD”. Through presentations of case studies to their peers and working in small breakout rooms, they learned about new and different ways of approaching addiction in a changing field.

Today, Roberts applies the collaborative learning at his full-time job at Bridging Access to Care in Brooklyn. “It had me noticing certain things clients were saying,” he explains. “I’d go back and see diagnoses of major de pression. A lot of times it was mental health that helped them lose their way.”

Roberts credits OWEP with enhancing his ability to make such connections, which he says can lead to ad justing treatment plans or referrals to mental health clin ics. “It was one of the main things I learned,” he recalls. “The training puts it on your radar.”

BRAINSTORMING WITH THE GROUP

A highlight for Eliana Simon, CMHC, an OWEP fellow from Touro’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, was researching and presenting a case study to the cohort. She says she learned the value of taking deep dives into a patient’s history, fielding questions from col leagues and brainstorming for others’ perspectives.

“The patient had an SUD with alcohol. I went into her whole history, when she started and for what reasons,” Simon recalls. “The OWEP experience helped me antic ipate every question — about her diagnostic criteria, life stages, goals and setbacks.” Simon says the training has helped her in her current

job as a mental health counselor at LSA Recovery, an addiction rehabilitation outpatient facility in Brooklyn.

“I should know all of this about all of my patients,” says Simon. “It’s such a great model. At the end of the day, it helps you get a more global context and helps the patient.”

The Touro OWEP is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1,338,822, with no percentage financed with non-governmental sources. This story does not neces sarily represent the official views of, nor an endorse ment, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

Eliana Simon, CMHC

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A PARTNERSHIP WIN-WIN

Touro Graduate School of Business Dean Mary Louise Lo Re with Salima Sangare of Carver Bank

HARLEM-BASED CARVER FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK AND TOURO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS GET DOWN TO THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATING FUTURE GENERATIONS OF MINORITY LEADERS

Apartnership between Carver Federal Savings

Bank and Touro Graduate School of Business (GSB) will mean that those who have wanted an ed ucation, but could little afford the cost, will no lon ger have their dreams deferred.

Under the partnership, employees of the Bank, a cer tified Minority Depository Institution, can participate in a fully paid scholarship program for all graduate certificate and degree programs at GSB. The Carver employees will get a discounted tuition rate and the Bank will reimburse them upon successful comple tion of a graduate degree or a certificate program.

“This newfound affiliation between the historic Har lem-based Carver and the student-focused grad uate business school at Touro represents a vital alliance between the professional and academic worlds, right here in the financial capital of the world, New York City,” said Kenneth J. Knuckles, Esq., vice chairman of the New City Planning Commission and Carver vice chairman. “It is a further sign that New York is back and open for business. I applaud both institutions on creating this partnership that will fur ther develop minority business talent.”

The program aims to provide an avenue for sub stantial personal growth and development for Carv er employees and a pathway to expand the pool of African American and Latinx managerial talent in the New York tri-state region. Employees can choose from a range of programs at the business school, including an MBA in seven different areas of concentration, M.S. in Accounting, M.S. in Inter national Business Finance, M.S. in Healthcare Man agement, M.S. in Human Resource Management and advanced certificates in Real Estate Entrepreneur

ship, Healthcare Management and Human Resource Management.

“This collaboration offers Carver employees the op portunity to cultivate the real-life skills necessary to take their careers to the next level and further ful fill the Bank’s mission without compromising their day-to-day work responsibilities by having to enroll in a full-time graduate business program,” said Dr. Mary Louise Lo Re, the dean of the Touro Gradu ate School of Business in New York City. “GSB aims to make quality business education affordable and accessible to working professionals who lead busy lives. We look forward to the meaningful contribu tions that the Bank’s employees will make to Touro and society at large as they undertake their gradu ate business studies with our esteemed faculty.”

For Michael T. Pugh, Carver’s president and CEO, the partnership is a win-win: ”Our partnership with the Touro Graduate School of Business provides Carver with a powerful tool to help recruit and retain top banking and managerial talent who are committed to deepening their financial acumen and manage ment prowess through advanced graduate training. Carver pays its mission forward through facilitating financial education, community engagement and by reinvesting approximately $0.80 of each deposited dollar back into the diverse neighborhoods it op erates in. I want to express my thanks to the Touro Graduate School in Business, which is helping us to realize our mission further.”

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Touro University is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education chartered in 1970. Touro was founded primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled at Touro University’s various schools and divisions, which encompass 35 campuses and locations in New York, California, Nevada, Illinois, Berlin, Jerusalem and Moscow. New York Medical College; Touro University California and Touro University Nevada; Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division; as well as Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois are separately accredited institutions within the Touro University system. For more information, visit www.touro.edu.

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