Touro University Nevada celebrates 10 years, with focus on innovation

Providing health care services in a constantly evolving environment requires new approaches for preparing medical students, the leaders of Touro University Nevada said as the private, nonprofit school prepares to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.

“We are preparing students to deliver health care that will change dramatically in just the next five years,” Touro CEO and Senior Provost Shelley Berkley said.

Touro — at 874 America Pacific Drive in Henderson, between Gibson Road and U.S. Highway 95 — uses models of clinical education integrating students across disciplines to provide a comprehensive approach to patients and their problems, said Dr. Mitchell Forman, Touro’s founding dean. Collaboration has become an important theme in medical schools. Touro educators stress teamwork, Forman said, and competency has replaced competition.

“No one group owns health care. It’s collaborative. It’s partnerships,” Forman said. “It’s not about competition with each other. It’s about competition within yourself, competing to become the best practitioner possible.”

At an event tonight at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, university officials will recognize some of the people and organizations who were key to Touro’s first 10 years, including founding Touro CEO Michael Harter; U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; the Valley Health System; Zappos; the Findlay Automotive Group; and the medical societies in the state.

Forman contrasts the experience he had in medical school where the structure was hierarchical and professors taught from the accumulation of their work and experiences. Students in today’s medical schools are taught not to be intimidated.

“We knew our place. We knew our elders. We didn’t question authority,” Forman said. “Now we encourage those questions.”

Some 1,300 students attend Touro in a range of degree programs including osteopathic medicine, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, nursing, medical health studies, occupational therapy and education. Students also provide physical examinations, immunizations and wellness checks for children through Touro’s mobile health care clinic, a recreational vehicle turned into a medical facility on wheels.

The integrated approach to medical education, with students of many disciplines cooperating together, will lead to better patient outcomes because teamwork will be ingrained in Touro’s graduates, Berkley said.

“The patients will be better off because they will have a team of providers taking care of their conditions,” she said.