Growing Touro puts first US podiatry school behind its shield vs. academic antisemitism

Touro University has officially absorbed the New York College of Podiatric Medicine, the first college of podiatry in the United States.

Observers found the moment for this to be an auspicious one, given the continuing spread of antisemitism in the medical world and on college campuses.

Touro University is a private Jewish university based in New York, with 19,000 students on campuses and at affiliated schools throughout the United States, that’s been expanding its medical-education offerings, which also include the New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY.

“Educating approximately 8,000 students annually in the health sciences, Touro is fast becoming one of the largest health-care educational systems in the United States,” said Dr. Alan Kadish, Touro’s president. “Adding podiatric medicine to our existing network of medical and health-science schools and programs will serve to augment and strengthen our academic offerings.”

Touro was working with the podiatry college for a few years before the acquisition too effect. According to the American Podiatric Medical Students’ Association, NYCPM has “graduated more than 25% of all active podiatrists in the nation.”

Kadish said that Touro’s mission is to “uphold the Jewish heritage, and more broadly to educate and serve ‘in keeping with the historic Jewish commitment to intellectual inquiry, the transmission of knowledge, social justice and service to society’.”

“Every school that Touro operates or starts is Sabbath-observant and has kosher food available,” Kadish told JNS. “It makes a more comfortable environment for Jewish students at any level of observance.”

“Students come here for those values, whether they view them as Jewish values or humanistic values,” he said.

A recent study published in the Journal of Religion and Health concluded that more than 75% of Jewish medical professionals and students say they have been exposed to antisemitism. It also showed that since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, medical publications and social-media posts by medical professionals about Jew-hatred have increased by five times while posts actively promoting antisemitism by medical professionals have increased by some 400%.

At the same time, antisemitism on college campuses has skyrocketed, with a report by StopAntisemitism reporting a 3,000% rise in college antisemitism since Oct. 7.

Touro is helping to confront this through numerous means, Kadish said, noting that the university is “very careful” about antisemitism and “that Jewish students feel protected.”

While many institutions of higher learning are only taking “baby steps” to combat antisemitism, Touro is leaning on its laurels, said Kadish.

“We are engaged in creating our own antisemitism education program. We’re going to make it part of the orientation for all of our students, Jewish and non.” The program is set to be rolled out within the next few months, he said.

The university is also working to make sure that all students understand aspects of Jewish life, whether it’s by taking Judaic studies classes or just being in a Jewish environment, absorbing the culture through “osmosis,” Kadish said.

“By and large, they develop a positive view of Judaism based on the environment they’re in.”

JNS contributed to this report.