Why TouroCOM - Middletown? A Conversation With Dean Steier

Kenneth J. Steier, D.O.
Dean, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine - Middletown

We have state of the art technology at our medical school – people are amazed when they come see it - people from other medical schools and other colleges in the area. We do tours just about every day and everybody who visits is just astounded.

We occupy over 100,000 square feet, and provide a program of medical education. Located in the same complex is a dormitory and a café. This allows our students to have one location, free of distraction with a high level of faculty support and interactions, and a brief elevator ride to private dormitory rooms or across the atrium to the full service Heart and Soul Café.

The entrance floor of the spacious medical school has our Student Affairs Department, Admissions Office and Executive Conference Room. The ground floor has several large classrooms, numerous study rooms for small group discussions and collaborations, and a robust library featuring 100 individual study carrels with an expansive electronic collection of medical texts and journals, all to support a first rate medical education.

The medical school is rich in the latest technology to drive an excellent medical curriculum and support an interdisciplinary faculty of physicians and clinical academics.

Besides the traditional cadavers, we have a Holographic 3D Anatomy Program called Cyber Anatomy where the students do a virtual dissection, learning all about the arteries, nerves and veins and practicing on a computer model so that when they do their actual dissection, they’re prepared for it.

In addition, our iTunes lectures support our flipped classroom model. This is possible because the medical school has its own production studio to create first rate presentations. Students watch all the lectures well before attending class. Lecture sessions become vehicles to assess what is learned, including clarification of concepts. In part, this is done through the I-clicker sessions. We also have discussion groups and case base discussions in the lectures.

Key to our medical school training program is our doctor’s offices suite or OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) Lab. This is the arena where you demonstrate competence in taking a history, doing a physical examination and providing culturally relevant communication to the patient. Well trained patient-actors are used in this clinical environment.

In the third and fourth year of study at our medical school, you will enjoy clinical rotation experiences at a variety of hospitals in the Mid-Hudson Valley region as well as the extended tri-state area. This opportunity allows you to both receive your core rotation requirements and at the same time pursue specialty interests during your audition rotations leading up to a residency. Residency programs are currently being developed at a number of our affiliated hospitals in the Mid-Hudson Valley Region, along with other residency programs which are currently available in our other affiliated hospitals.

We are proud of the inaugural class of 2018 and its 135 students and look forward to the next class in 2015 and another bright and energetic 135 students.

Maha Mourad
Class of 2018, TouroCOM Middletown

I chose Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine because of its mission, its commitment to increasing access to healthcare in underserved populations as well as its fantastic faculty…they’re really committed to teaching us and making us great physicians.

Christine Miller
Class of 2018, TouroCOM Middletown

l really like the way the curriculum is set up - you watch the videos on your own time and the lecture portion is actually interactive, including being quizzed. The medical school really encourages teamwork. Basically, I love that Touro focuses so much on working together with classmates and putting such a big emphasis on teamwork because ultimately, as a physician, you’re going to be working as a team with other doctors.

What can students expect from TouroCOM Middletown?

Tamie M. Proscia-Lieto, M.D.
Course Director, Physical Diagnosis

I think that students who come to Touro Middletown can expect to become part of a wonderful family – a family that consists of dedicated faculty who want to see the students successful in their studies. There are dedicated deans and administrators who are there to support the students through this time. I also feel that students are going to be part of a wonderful educational system with innovative state-of-the-art technology and labs that they can learn in. I honestly believe that the students will become well-trained physicians for the future…compassionate physicians who have a mission that is very important to follow through on.

Christine Miller
Class of 2018, TouroCOM Middletown

What I like best about living on campus is it makes my job as a medical student very singular. I have my classmates around all the time to study with, access to study groups is very easy, I can just walk across the hall and grab a couple classmates and it makes being a medical student much more streamlined. I feel like it definitely benefits my education. I think I’m learning a lot more.

What does the TouroCOM - Middletown Department of Primary Care have to offer?

Joyce Brown, D.O.
Vice Chair, Primary Care / Director, Simulation Program

One of the special things about the department of primary care is that it is a very large department. We have a high number of faculty physicians that come in on a weekly basis to help teach the students. We also have a large group of actors that come in and help train the students and assess the students by playing potential patients that the students are going to see. As part of our simulation program we also have a large family of mannequins that train the students to take care of a wide variety of patients - we have male, female, children, babies and even a birthing mannequin.

Robert Scott Bostwick, AEMT- P
Simulation Specialist, Primary Care

My responsibilities include the robotic simulation lab. We have state-of-the-art high fidelity mannequins. We are able to recreate just about any type of medical emergency for our students to participate in prior to them going out on their supervised clinical rotations and seeing patients in our affiliated hospitals.

What does the TouroCOM Middletown OMM Department do?

Martin Torrents, D.O.
Associate Chair, OMM Department

The osteopathic manipulative medicine department is responsible for the curriculum in osteopathic medicine. We teach the students how to develop their palpatory skills, various treatment modalities so when they graduate from this medical school they can use their hands to treat medical disease that they encounter.

The students are very outgoing, they’re very enthusiastic. They are very interested in learning medicine and you can tell that they have a desire to help people in the future and to really become great physicians which is what we’re looking for here at TouroCOM Middletown.

Leah Labranch, M.S.
Instructor, Anatomy Department

I really enjoy the plastinated specimen lab. There the students have a chance to interact with cross sectional anatomy specimens that they can correlate with MRI’s and CT’s which they may see in clinical practice.

I am passionate about learning and I am passionate about anatomy so I really like to share both of these passions with the students that I teach and hope that they can find a way to incorporate the anatomy that they’re learning into the clinical scenarios that they’ll encounter as a doctor of osteopathic medicine.

Jerry Cammarata, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer and Dean of Student Affairs, TouroCOM Middletown

You’re going to be making many choices during the next couple of months and you’re going to try to find the school that best fits you. I urge you to come to Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Middletown. See our school, see our building, see the fantastic city of Middletown and I know you will make the right decision - that is - the decision to become an osteopathic physician at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Middletown, New York.

For additional information, please refer to The Student Catalog and Handbook.