Touro welcomes next class of future doctors

The library at Touro University Nevada brimmed with potential in late July as the incoming class of its College of Medicine donned lab coats for the first time.

The class of 2019 includes Las Vegas natives, students with longtime ties to Southern Nevada and out-of-state residents. All will become candidates for helping to reduce the state's physician shortage, a condition even more serious in the Las Vegas Valley.

Touro officials welcomed the 135 students at an orientation paving the way for their four years of classroom, laboratory and clinical study to become doctors of osteopathic medicine.

In just 10 years of existence, Touro already dominates the list of such practitioners in the state. The Nevada Osteopathic Medical Association's list of members includes the medical schools they attended. Touro has about 100 graduates out of more than 800 physicians listed. The next closest school with alumni practicing in Nevada with about 75 grads is the Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, Calif., which was established in 1977.

Allopathic physicians, or MDs, practice the classical form of medicine, focused on the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. Osteopathic doctors, who go by the initials DO, are centered around a holistic view of medicine rather than treating symptoms alone. Both are fully licensed and trained to diagnose and treat illnesses and disorders, and to provide preventive care.

Students at universities such as Touro receive training in osteopathic manipulative treatment, which involves using the hands to diagnose and treat illness or injury. Those techniques are not required in allopathic schools of medicine.

The doctors in training are about to begin postgraduate work that takes at least six years before the students will be licensed and practicing independently. The white coat ceremony reinforces to medical students the responsibility that comes with their profession.

The University of Nevada School of Medicine's white coat ceremony took place in early August at the campus in Reno.

The coats are meant to be cloaks of compassion, a symbol of the doctor-patient relationship and the care and professionalism required by the practice of medicine.

The last day of the orientation featured Dr. Derek Meeks speaking to the students about academic integrity, respect, compassion and professionalism, subjects not stressed as much when Meeks was a student more than 20 years ago.

"We tell our students that their potential is limitless. They're dealing with such an important part of people's lives: Their health," Meeks said during a break in the orientation. "They really can make a tremendous difference."

Those students include Samantha Haikal, 25, a Henderson native and the daughter of Dr. Osama Haikal, a Las Vegas gastroenterologist, specializing in the stomach, intestines and their diseases. Throughout her childhood, she often shadowed her father, who is affiliated with Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

"I grew up in medicine," Samantha Haikal said.

Haikal attended Northwestern University until her sophomore year when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She returned to Southern Nevada to attend UNLV to be closer to her mother and help with her care. She lost her mother to leukemia, but the experience solidified her desire to make medicine her career. Touro was the right fit in part because it's so close to the family home.

Ryan Zimmerman, the son of Las Vegas Laser and Lipo owner Dr. Edward Zimmerman, is a recent West Point graudate. He was a part-time Southern Nevadan, growing up with his mother in Pittsburgh and seeing his father during summer vacations and holidays.

With the educational benefits from his military service, Ryan Zimmerman had flexibility when choosing where to study, and he considered more than 20 medical schools before settling on Touro after a tour of the school.

"I looked into the school more, and their scores on the national tests have been very high," Ryan Zimmerman said. "I just got a really good vibe from the place."

Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.