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A Fast Track To Careers In and a cardiologist by training. “We He noted the advantages that Medicine And Health offer our undergraduates a liberal arts core, but we also make sure Touro students have in being accepted to medical, dental and By Larry Luxner people are prepared for the job marother professional health schools, ket. That heavy emphasis on health which are very competitive. drome and other genetic disorders. sciences was part of Touro’s strate“They actually help set up interHe also works at Forward PT, an gy when they hired me. You can view prep, research and ongoing outpatient clinic in Brooklyn’s Flatstart your undergraduate studies coaching,” Buchen said of Touro. bush neighborhood. with us and end up with an exciting “That’s an example of them going Aaron Kattan, right, saved two professional career.” the extra step for you. The fact that years of college tuition by going Touro, which was founded in Touro has so many schools in meddirectly to physical therapy school 1970 by the late Bernard Lander, is icine and the health fields, and has

Sarah Laks, a dental student from without having to first receive an the largest university system under those professors work with us,

Florida, is one of five siblings to attend Touro. (Courtesy of Touro) undergraduate degree. (Courtesy of Touro) Jewish auspices. Although only about one-third of Touro’s students gives a Touro student an edge that no one else provides.”

Eitan Glucksman often wakes up Glucksman and Kattan are are Jewish, its campuses offer Yosef Buchen, a second-year at 4:30 a.m., putting in 15-hour among countless current and forkosher food, daily prayers are availmedical student, with Dr. Nader days as a first-year urology resident mer Touro students who have taken able, and its schools are closed on Abraham, professor of medicine at Westchester Medical Center in advantage of the educational ecothe Sabbath and Jewish holidays. and pharmacology at Touro’s New Valhalla, New York. system Touro offers to fast-track “Dr. Lander envisioned a Jewish York Medical College. (Courtesy of

The father of two has a grueling their path from high school to a college that would be open to all,” said Touro) schedule but says he feels lucky: He’s degree in medicine or other health Rabbi Moshe Krupka, Touro’s execuSarah Laks, 24, a first-year denone of only two urology residents sciences. In many cases, students tive vice president, “but also ensured tal student from North Miami admitted per year to the hospital, are able to fulfill their bachelor’s that anyone coming from an observant Beach, Florida, also stayed with which is affiliated with New York Medical College, part of the Touro College and University System. degree requirements while simultaneously doing graduate programs, saving years and thousands of dolbackground would receive a superior education — without ever having to choose between religious observance See COLLEGE on Page 21

“This is a field where you can lars in educational costs. and their pursuit of a career. We have really make a difference,” said There are 34 schools in the Touro divisions that are specifically geared Glucksman, 27, an Orthodox native network, including 10 in medicine and for the observant Jewish community, of Clifton, New Jersey, who spends health care, in New York, California but all of our divisions provide a warm his days treating everything from and Nevada. More than 7,000 of Touand nurturing environment for our prostate cancer and bladder probro’s 18,000 students worldwide are observant students.” lems to kidney stones and urinary tract infections. “My pre-med coursework at pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and other health fields, and many of them reached their careers Yosef Buchen, 26, of Passaic, New Jersey, was inspired to become a doctor when he fell off a ski lift at Seafood & PoBoy Restaurant Dine in...or Take Out! Touro was very hard and intense, and I was a lot more prepared for med school than others in my class,” he said. Aaron Kattan, 26, of Great Neck, New York, enrolled in Touro’s as physician assistants, doctors, nurses, speech pathologists or physical and occupational therapists faster than possible through traditional routes at other schools. “We provide something unique age 7 and fractured his hip. Buchen attended Lander College for Men — “I liked that I could study Torah and take college classes at the same time,” he said — then New York Medical College, where he just finCall 985-893-9336 * Cuban Sandwich * * Muffalettas * * Black Beans & Fried Plantains* Mon-Thurs 10:00 - 8:00 Friday 10:00 - 9:00 Lander College for Men after studythat’s not available elsewhere,” said ished his second year. Sat. 10:00 - 3:00 Closed Sun. ing for a time at a yeshiva in Israel. Dr. Alan Kadish, president of Touro 515 E. Boston St. Covington - Menu Express Delivery Available It was at Touro that he decided he wanted to work in physical therapy. Touro connected Kattan, then a science major, to two alumni who Best Wishes to our many Customers and Friends in the were physical therapists. “I started working with them, Jewish Community from the Paretti family of dealerships loved the work they were doing and knew it was for me,” he said.

Staying within the Touro system, Kattan fast-tracked his career.

“I just took all my prerequisites while at Lander, and went directly to PT school without having to first receive an undergraduate degree,” he said. “That saved me two years.” After graduating last year with two degrees — a bachelor of sciParetti Mazda ence and a doctor of physical therapy — Kattan now works at the Paretti Jaguar Metairie and Baton Rouge Hebrew Academy for Special ChilLand Rover New Orleans and Baton Rouge dren in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood helping kids with cerebral palsy, autism, Down syn