TouroCOM Student Wins Prestigious Scholarship

The annual scholarship recognizes outstanding students entering their fourth year of medical school who demonstrate academic excellence and community service. The award is open to eligible applicants who have been residents of Connecticut for at least five years and who are currently attending a not-for-profit medical school accredited by the AMA and/or the World Health Organization. Winners are selected by the Waterbury Medical Association.

Goldgrab, whose GPA at the TouroCOM earned him the ranking of seventeen in a class of over 140 students, began volunteering as an emergency medical technician (EMT) in Southbury, a neighboring town, over ten years ago. An Orthodox Jew, he first came to Waterbury as a high school graduate to attend the Yeshiva of Waterbury, and later continued his EMT community service at Waterbury’s Post University as he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a concentration in law.

In congratulating Mr. Goldgrab, Executive Dean Robert Goldberg, DO, stated, “David’s academic achievements and dedication to his Waterbury community made him a truly worthy awardee. His passion to practice in his medically underserved region epitomizes our school’s values and aligns directly with our mission of spreading healing where it is needed the most.”

After enrolling in TouroCOM-Harlem, Goldgrab spent his first two years commuting four hours each day from Waterbury to Harlem and back. He used his time wisely—he watched class iTunes lectures while on the railroad—and his efforts paid off: In his third year at TouroCOM, he became one of two chief medical students in his group of seventeen doing rotations at Orange Regional Medical Center.

As Goldgrab looks toward his fourth year at TouroCOM, he says it’s important for him to remain in his tight-knit Waterbury community, which is also where he’d like to raise his family. The future doctor, who plans on pursuing internal medicine as a specialty, is also excited about boosting healthcare in his neighborhood—an underserved area that includes many low-income residents. “As an EMT, I remember seeing many people with advanced stages of disease. Many had never been diagnosed because they hadn’t seen a doctor regularly,” he reflected.

For Goldgrab, medical school is a full-time job: His day at Orange Regional Medical Center starts 7 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m., and when he gets home, he engages in supplementary research to learn more about the diseases afflicting his patients.  Still, he makes time for family, specifically his wife—a full-time speech language pathologist—and three-year-old twins.

As one of seven children, Goldgrab says family is number one: “It’s being a father and a husband that makes me realize I have important priorities in life,” he says, and “it’s my love for them that’s pushing me through medical school.” Goldgrab credits his wife for running the home while he’s at school, adding that “it’s definitely quite the juggling act for all of us, but it’s all worth it.”

In his spare time, Goldgrab enjoys gardening, woodworking (he recently built a bench swing for his kids), and cooking. In fact, Goldgrab started his own catering company nine years ago, which he has since sold, in order to pay for his undergraduate education.

Attending TouroCOM, says Goldgrab, “has allowed me to pursue my two priorities in life—family and medicine—at the same time. And winning this Wellsford and Mildred Clark Memorial Scholarship makes it possible for me to do this in the town I care about the most.”

About the Touro College and University System

Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 18,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, and Paris. New York Medical College, Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro University Worldwide and its Touro College Los Angeles division are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/news/