“We Must Maintain Our Integrity”

Touro College President Dr. Alan Kadish addressed the crowd at the school’s midtown office.

“The research presented today shows the quality and diversity of research being done at Touro, including work on children’s education, the interaction between law and social policy, and scientific work on obesity, heart disease and cancer,” said Dr. Kadish.

Patricia Salkin, Touro College Provost of Graduate and Professional Divisions, explained, "Touro College is proud of the research and scholarship of our faculty not just for what it contributes to our collective body of knowledge, but for how it also helps to inform our teaching and engage the curiosity of our colleagues and students."

Dr. Allan Geliebter, professor of psychology at Lander College of Arts and Sciences, delivered the keynote address, providing attendees with an in-depth look at how he and Daniele Ben Neriah, a second-year student (OMS II) at TouroCOM Harlem, conducted research on a weight loss app. The two evaluated whether a photo feature on the app, which allowed users to record information on the food they ate, led to further weight loss. Results of the study indicated that the feature led to a small increase in the amount of weight participants lost.

“Perhaps it was the two seconds extra that made participants think more about what they were eating,” speculated Dr. Geliebter. The study was funded by a grant from the Obesity Society.

Ben Neriah began the research while she was pursuing a master’s in nutrition from Columbia University (where Dr. Geliebter served as a faculty member). She continued the research during her first year at TouroCOM Harlem. Ben Neriah said there was also another effect of the photo feature that might have contributed to the weight loss.

“Overall, people who used the photo feature lost more weight than those who did not, and those who used the photo feature also used the app for longer,” said Ben Neriah. The paper, “Weight Loss Following Use of a Smartphone Food Photo Feature: Retrospective Cohort Study,” has been accepted provisionally in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

“It’s fascinating to see how Touro has research in so many areas,” said Ben Neriah about the luncheon. “It’s an honor to be here as a student.”

Among other medical professionals who published this year was Dr. Barry Panzer, an assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at New York Medical College. He published the first-ever continuing education text on the role of a mental health professional in dealing with childhood obesity.

“The text outlines issues that involve the epidemiology and comorbidity and consequences of childhood obesity and an array of treatment-based options that have been proven to be effective,” said Dr. Panzer. He appreciated the chance to meet with fellow scholars. “The networking is important and it’s good to hear the level of scholarship taking place in the Touro system,” said Dr. Panzer.

Other authors whose works were featured during the event included Lander College of Arts and Sciences assistant dean, Dr. Henry Abramson, whose history of Ukrainian Jewry was recently translated into Ukrainian as well as the publication of a Spanish version of another of his books. Graduate School of Business dean, Sabra Brock’s At the Intersection of Education, Marketing, and Transformation was published by Touro University Press. Touro Law’s Samuel Levine completed his two-volume comparative study of Jewish law and American law. Touro Librarian Dr. David Levy edited a five-volume work on medical humanities.

Dr. Saloman Amar, Touro’s Provost for Biomedical Research and Chief Biomedical Research Officer, delivered brief remarks at the end of the event. Dr. Amar noted the somewhat fraught culture of research in the wake of recent retractions from prominent medical journals. “We need to congratulate and support each other,” he said. “However, we also need to recognize that while we’re under tremendous pressure to move our fields forward, we must maintain our integrity.”