SHS 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner

It feels very humbling for me to be honored. As I reflect on the past 40 years of my life at Touro, that's a long time to be in a position. I can only be filled with gratitude. The School of Health Sciences has been my home, and so I want to give back and acknowledge 50 wonderful years of Touro's existence.

Your selection of guest of honor for this year's dinner could not have been more perfect. Not that Nadja needs any introduction. Anyone that's come in contact with her, ever, realizes who she is, her capabilities, and what she's accomplished. She is gentle, kind, perceptive, thoughtful, a good friend, a wise counsel, and a person who is admired by all. She is a remarkable combination of everything that somebody would want to be, and someone strives to be. My mom is this genius. She's brilliant. Yeah, she got a PhD in biochemistry from Columbia in the '70s. Her soft-spoken nature-- she is so down-to-earth, and so approachable. And she rises to the occasion. And she does it with such grace. There's obviously so many things that I admire about my mom.

My children always tell me, oh, I met such-and-such. They were one of your students 20 years ago, 30 years ago, and they still remember you. They still remember the biochemistry minutia that you taught them. And in a way, that is so gratifying. You realize that you've done something good in the world. To be able to shape minds. To give them a love for God's world, really, for the biochemical mechanisms that God created, that is a wonderful feeling.

I want to add my congratulations to Vice President Nadja Graff. Nadja Graff is one of those special people-- warm, has a great sense of humor. And she really knows how to make people feel good and bring the team together. Dr. Nadja Graff has been a fixture at Touro since 1980. Not only has she been responsible for six of our graduate schools, but she really has been an absolutely invaluable member of the senior leadership team, both from a technical standpoint and a human standpoint. And translating that complexity and those ideas into concrete policies and actions to make the institution better. It's almost as if she's been the soul of Touro.

Dr. Nadja Graff is in a league all of her own. We're blessed to have her leadership, her professionalism, her intellect, her scholarship. She has this innate mission to uphold integrity and truth. She's a role model. It would not be an understatement to say that without Dr. Nadja Graff, Touro would not be where it is today. It's astounding to see the growth of Touro over these years, and now, finally, Dr. Lander's dream of a university. And there's so much more on the horizon. We are a values-driven institution, understanding that people are so much more than their work jobs. All that richness of what makes a person a whole person is so much appreciated at Touro. We build family. We build a community. We care for people.

They built a remarkable institution, one that brings a great deal of respect to the institution, and to the Jewish people at large.

My wishes for the future for Touro, for the next 50 years, is now to jump off from that springboard of Touro University, that incredible accomplishment from Touro College with 32 students in 1972, 50 years later to Touro University with 19,000 students. And to just continue to do things with excellence, to provide opportunities, but to do it with the heart and soul that Touro had from the very beginning.

My grandmother's just always the first person to ask me how my day is going. Any time I'll call her, or FaceTime her, she always answers with the biggest smile. She's just a great person to talk to-- always happy, always upbeat. I feel like I could talk to her about anything.

She's just amazing. I don't know. I can't say enough wonderful things about my mother. My biggest complement is when one of my siblings looks at me and says, oh my God, you are Ma. I've never heard her raise her voice in my life. I have been blessed, so very blessed, with beautiful children, incredible, adorable grandchildren. We've been married for more than 48 years. We have [SPREAKING HEBREW] an incredible marriage, and an incredible relationship.

So life has been good. The journey has been quite amazing.

Well you're asking me why I got into academia. It's an interesting question. It was sort of accidental. I was a graduate student in the doctoral program at Queen's College, and we had a child. And I didn't want to leave my doctoral program. And someone told me about a teaching job. And I said, well, I'll give that a shot, and I fell in love with it.

I was at Adelphi University. I stepped down as Dean thinking I was going to go back and teach, and Dr. Lander was in touch with me. And he was an incredible human being. A very, very brilliant man, and we had some conversations, and eventually he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Lou was an incredible colleague. He's someone who believes in the mission of Touro University. He has professionalized the School of Health Sciences. He's injected an element of research and inter-professional education.

Lou has been a builder throughout his career. And certainly when he came to Touro, looking back on the School of Health Sciences 14 years ago, it's grown in the number of programs. It's grown in the number of students. It's grown in the stature and reputation. And we really have Lou Primavera to thank for that.

And it's created a generation of practitioners who serve the community.

Touro's given me an opportunity to build something, and I really have enjoyed that. The way things have come together, the outstanding faculty, we have the growth of the faculty, it's been an exciting 13 and 1/2 years. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Lou Primavera is a big teddy bear. He cares about people, cares about their success. Lou, along with his dear wife Dr. Ann Primavera are valued friends to my entire family.

Lou Primavera is a sweetheart, that's the best way I could describe him. He's friendly, he loves people, and it comes through in everything he does.

Lou Primavera is really the dean's Dean. He's always thinking about his team, he's thinking about his students.

Dr. Primavera is a family man first, and he's also a good friend. He understands when you're trying to balance your work life and your personal life.

I love being at graduation because it's a family experience. I look out of the audience, and I see parents, grandparents, children, sometimes very young children. And they're all there to watch their husbands, sons, daughters, wives graduate, and going to go out to the field and make a difference.

Two, one, go!

[CHEERING] Unfortunately in the last number of years, I've gone through some personal tragedies. Two years ago, we lost our son. And this is very hard for me to talk about. The Touro community gathered around me and supported me, and helped me get through a very difficult time. I don't know that I'll ever be fully over it, I don't think you ever can deal with the loss of a child. But the constant support I think really made a major difference. I don't know that would happen other places.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I know that for all of us, he's an integral part of the Touro family. And anybody who knows Lou knows how important family is to him. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Lou Primavera is an incredibly talented person. You can't let that talent slip away.

I'm going to be stepping down as Dean and moving on to the provost office. I'm going to be the Associate Provost for special projects. I'll be working side by side with the provost. And I'm always there for advice because I have a real personal investment here. Touro's been a special place for me. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Today, Touro is one of the major leaders of educating health care professionals. And it all began here and with Dr. Weisberg.

I was asked to open up the physical therapy program, and I contact the association. And they told me very simply, don't try because you'll not make it there. But I don't accept. I take challenges. I don't just bow to them. So I did, and got full accreditation first time around. And then we started with 12 students.

He was an incredible innovator. When I look back at all the programs while Dean Weisberg was a Dean in the School of Health Sciences, I am really amazed to recollect that not only was there a PA, and not only was there physical therapy, or occupational therapy, or speech language pathology, but he also got the nursing program underway. A neuropsychology program. Got a program with the Technion in Israel underway. He was always looking for innovative avenues to grow. And that was something that was very-- a very important part of Dean Weisberg's legacy at Touro.

We built it up to-- at some point, where there was a need for many physical therapists, that the association approached us and say, do more, take more. We built up a program-- just my program, for 72 students. Toys and model for a Jewish institution to do whatever they can, to which as many people as they can. And to serve in the best way possible. I was very fortunate to be part of it.

Dr. Joe Weisberg is a man of ethics, honesty. He's an outstanding clinician. Those are the foundation stones for the School of Health Sciences. And remain its hallmark many years after he's left the position as Dean. He set the foundation for us to achieve further greatness in the future.

And it all started here, from Dr. Weisberg's small program in Manhattan. He is the founder and the visionary of the School of Health Sciences.

I'm not a person to look for and not know for cognition. So even though my first reaction to say no, but then I said, no, I owe it to [NON-ENGLISH] because they put me on a higher level of what it means to be doing. To be continuously. Not to be satisfied at a certain level, but to continue to pursue. And that's really what I'm very grateful to Touro for. The opportunity to do, and to do, and to do.

My first day was supposed to be the day after 9/11.

She was actually hired for 9/12/2001. That very first day of work was a big challenge, getting across the Verrazano Bridge. The whole month was. But she always came. Was always here, because she knew that she had a job to do, and had to be here for her students immediately.

The students came. They came from New Jersey, Brooklyn, Rockland. They came to learn to be speech language pathologists.

She has literally dedicated her life to our graduate program in speech language pathology. She is interested in other people. She is interested in what other people think. She really, truly, enjoys interacting with students, faculty, staff on any level. And is really interested in them.

The students adore her. But it's not only the students. She was able to develop relationships in a beautiful way, with each and every one of the externships. And they ask for our students. Dr. Unterman's warmth and caring are really what helped us get through this rigorous program. And stayed with us to become the clinicians, and the supervisors that we are today.

She is so delightful to be around. She's so eager to help everybody. And she's a true team player, and just such a delight to be with.

It's not only knowing what's in the books. It's also having that feeling for the people that we are treating. And this is the message that I would want all of our graduates to take away with them. That they are very important. They are responsible for the lives of other people. And they should take that responsibility very, very seriously.

I can't remember your name, but trust me, I can remember from day one. [MUSIC PLAYING] There are very few people that are in the category of five decades of service to Touro. Esther Ingber shines and stands out in that category.

She was here right when Touro was pre-infancy, and she's been there for an entire professional career. So she's been with the University for close to 50 years.

Touro first started as just an office for visionary of Dr. Lander. I was the janitor. I opened up the building, I closed the building, I took Dr. Lander up in the elevator. I worked under Weisberg after the PA program. I was in the PA programs for about 20 years.

And then after that, I went with Weisberg to do alumni for the School of Health Sciences. To see the growth of it, it's a dream. You're talking about 36 students plus 20 students from the PA program the first three years, and now you're talking about thousands of students that are there throughout the programs that they have.

The growth that God gave the vision for this institution to grow is just so magnificent, and it's a beautiful thing. It was such an experience, because every year, something new happened. Every year, is there another new program.

Esther was the one who knew every single student, who knew everything about them. She was the one who was able to chat with them, and to bring them out, and to make them feel that this was their home, that people cared about them. That was Esther Ingber. And over the years, Esther has been my friend, she makes me laugh, she's got all these ideas.

There's always a smile on Esther's face, and really, Touro is her extended family. And we're so thrilled to be able to join with many of her friends and extended family to wish her well and to celebrate as we recognize her decades of loyal service to Touro University.

I want to thank them for allowing me to work there, for giving me the opportunity to grow there. And I wish the next 50 years will be more progressive, and on and on, and we'll be another Yale, or another Harvard. It's getting there, and I hope so.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING] [EXPLOSION] Right after the Vietnam War, when all of these young people came back with very, very highly experienced medical backgrounds, they were medics in Vietnam, and they had no jobs. Well, this was a program that my husband brought to Dr. Lander that was trying to get these students into programs where they could be used in hospitals.

We really had a very, very nice class coming from different backgrounds. It was so exciting to have so many students who had just finished serving in the military. We had students, like myself, that were coming out with bachelor degrees already. Everybody came with a different story.

I do remember many students from our class. Class was very friendly, very supportive of each other. There was no competition, as you see now in certain schools. Everyone brought in a different flavor.

I graduated from Touro's physician assistant program in 1974. Touro was a wonderful place. The physicians that they chose to teach us were so focused on their knowledge, and transfer of all that knowledge to us without hurdles, that it was as if they were teaching medical students. And I think Touro deserves the tip of the hat being one of the first in New York City to have a PA program, and a vibrant one that is continuing to this day.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I know Touro's PA school is a great place, because I went on to become a doctor. I feel going to Touro's PA school was the beginning of that, and Touro had just opened up-- and actually bringing tears to my eyes, actually. We were like pioneers.

I felt I wanted to be a part of this celebration. I'm proud to have gone there. I'm proud of this honor to Touro, really, for becoming the University that they have become.

My experience as a member of the first class at the Touro college PA program, it was a wonderful experience. We were immersed in medicine, and in learning medicine, invited to the program to lecture for some of the leading medical educators in New York City at that time. And we benefited greatly from the emphasis, and the high standards that Touro applied to medical education.

I'm just thrilled to be part of celebration that celebrates Touro's 50th. [MUSIC PLAYING]