Touro University Nevada

Touro University Nevada (TUN) has been leading the way in both academics and service since 2004—teaching Nevada’s future doctors, nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists and educators, while caring for our community.

Today more than 1,500 students are enrolled in a variety of degree programs and more than 5,000 graduates currently serve as healthcare and education professionals. Former United States Congresswoman Shelley Berkley serves as CEO and senior provost of Touro University Western Division. Ms. Berkley’s demonstrated commitment to healthcare and education, together with a strong academic leadership team, has led to significant increases in private support and partnerships for TUN.

COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE The Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) is Nevada’s largest medical school, offering degrees in osteopathic medicine and medical health sciences. Our impressive track record includes a remarkable 98.3 percent average first-time pass rate on the COMLEX-USA Level 1 exam—the highest of any medical school in the nation!

Our commitment to helping students achieve professional success includes our Medical Health Sciences (MHS) program, which has expanded from a class size of 30 to 60 students. This master’s degree helps students with a lower MCAT score or undergraduate GPA improve their application for medical or PA school.

We also partner with Touro University California (TUC) to offer TUN College of Medicine students the opportunity to obtain a Master of Public Health (MPH) at TUC through a synchronized distance learning program. PARTNERSHIP WITH NEVADA STATE COLLEGE (NSC) OFFERS DUAL DEGREE TUN and NSC have an agreement that provides a pathway for students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare to participate in an accelerated double-degree program that allows them to receive a bachelor’s degree from NSC and a master’s degree from TUN.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

The College of Health and Human Services offers healthcare-related degree programs in physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies and nursing, as well as advanced degree and certificate programs in education.

We’re proud to say our students and faculty have been actively involved on the front lines since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The School of Physician Assistant Studies and the College of Osteopathic Medicine have been leading the charge on COVID vaccinations for the University and in the community. The University’s students and faculty have provided more than 10,000 vaccines across Southern Nevada. Many of the School of Nursing students and faculty have been assisting in local hospitals. Students in the RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing/Family Nurse Practitioner and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs are all working RN professionals.

It was a big year for the School of Education, which celebrated its first Doctor of Education graduates this past spring of 2021.

NEW PARTNERSHIPS

TUN College of Osteopathic Medicine received a $2.6

million grant from the United Health Foundation to improve maternal health and reduce disparities in underserved communities. This three-year partnership will provide free prenatal screening and care to underserved women in Nevada using Touro’s mobile healthcare initiative, equipped with handheld ultrasound devices and staffed by Touro physicians, nurses and medical students.

TUN was also the recipient of a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Scholarships for Disadvantaged Physician Assistant Students (SDS) grant in Southern Nevada, which provides $3.25 million over five years. The grant aims to increase diversity among physician assistant students who have demonstrated financial need. The program’s goal is to increase the number of PA practitioners working in underserved communities.

Helping families and children with special needs and offering essential resources to those with disabilities remains a priority for the University. TUN’s internationally recognized Sharon Sigesmund Pierce and Stephen Pierce Center for Autism & Development Disabilities (CADD) received a $3 million endowment gift from the State of Qatar through 2027. The gift, known as the Qatar Patient Care Fund, will provide financial support for families to access services at the Center. The Center offers multi-disciplinary, comprehensive therapy and support for families dealing with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental issues.

SERVING THE COMMUNITY

At Touro University Nevada, service to the community is central to our mission. Therefore, all programs have a community service/service-learning component to them. The Stephen J. Cloobeck Regional Center for Disaster Life Support is a National Disaster Life Support Foundation (NDLSF) certified facility offering cutting-edge training for students and healthcare professionals. The Cloobeck Center recently received a grant from the Engelstad Family Foundation to partner with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and provide critical care training to patrol officers.

To ensure our future clinicians are well-prepared for real-life situations, the Michael Tang Regional Center for Clinical Simulation is a state-of-the-art medical simulation environment that provides vital training in patient care, diagnosis, professionalism and communications skills.

Our own TUN Health Center is staffed by our faculty physicians and provides clinical rotations for students. The Center is open to the public and accepts most insurances. Services include rheumatology, primary care, geriatrics and osteopathic manipulative medicine.

TUN’s commitment to the community includes our Stallman Touro Clinic at the Shade Tree Shelter, which provides free medical care to abused and homeless women and children. The first of its kind in Nevada, the clinic is staffed by Touro physician assistant program faculty and students and has reduced ambulance visits from the shelter to the emergency room by an astonishing 88 percent.

Ensuring everyone in Southern Nevada receives essential healthcare services, students, under faculty supervision, provide free, on-site medical care to our homeless population, homeless veterans, low-income seniors and soon, to underserved pregnant women through the Touro Mobile Healthcare Initiative.

Travis Snyder, DO

Neuroradiologist, Research Entrepreneur, Professor

Dr. Travis Snyder is a breathlessly busy man who would have it no other way. A 2009 graduate of Touro University Nevada’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, Snyder is a neuroradiologist, an entrepreneur, a researcher, a professor, a medical school mentor, a community health leader and more.

“It all started with Touro,” says Snyder, who was applying to medical schools from his thenhome in North Carolina. “I liked that it was a new school in a place with seven big hospitals and no medical schools! The founding dean was dynamic and very pro-student. He knew the community was ripe for a medical school. He promised a great education, great rotations and endless opportunities, and he was right on all of it.”

These days, Snyder, 42, who goes off on yoga retreats when possible (translation: not often), has a full-time career reading and diagnosing X-rays, MRIs and CT scans of the brain and spine, at SimonMed Imaging in Las Vegas.

“There’s nothing static about neuroradiology,” says Snyder. “To me, it’s a pure medical and intellectual specialty. The technology is always changing, improving, allowing us to see and understand more. It’s a field that’s never static.”

But Snyder takes advantage of what an average person might call downtime: He is an adjunct professor of radiology and neuroradiology at Touro, where he gives at least two lectures a year on imaging. He takes several third- and fourth-year Touro students on clinical rotations every month. Snyder also owns a research company, Imgen, which has the largest non-military database on mild traumatic brain injuries, as well as a carbon monoxide database. Through Imgen, Snyder offers summer research internships to 60 first- and second-year Touro medical students.

To fund Imgen’s research and pay the interns a stipend, Snyder works as a medical legal consultant.

Enough, already?

Snyder laughs, before adding a tad sheepishly, that he is the residency program director for Sunrise Health Care of America Consortium in Las Vegas, the first radiology residency program in Nevada.

Does this tireless Touro University Nevada booster ever choose Touro graduates? For this Las Vegas doctor, it’s a safe bet he does.