“Embrace Failure as a Learning Opportunity”

Participating schools included Touro’s Graduate School of Business; Graduate School of Education; School of Health Sciences’ Behavioral Science programs; Graduate School of Social Work; Graduate School of Technology and Graduate School of Jewish Studies. 

As students waited for the procession, they reminisced about their experiences.

“I feel like I found my family,” said Heidi Atstahi, a newly-minted social worker.

Yulia Gulakova was a member of the inaugural class of the School of Health Sciences’ Advanced Certificate in Behavior Analysis.

“The program was hard, but very helpful," said Gulakova, who emigrated from the Ukraine. "I got a lot of experience and I know I'm on the right path."

Touro College President Alan Kadish, M.D., welcomed the students and their families and spoke of the students’ newfound responsibilities to the larger world.

“We face the challenge of divisiveness, a self-inflicted wound,” said Dr. Kadish. “It is a challenge we must come together to overcome. Work hard in the fields we have trained you to; improving the health of others, educating others, taking care of the less fortunate, advancing technology, advancing knowledge in the humanities. Remember we need to work together, to come together, on those principles which unite us rather than divide us.” 

Students heard from keynote speaker Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D, founder and CEO of biotech giant Regeneron. Dr. Schleifer led the audience on a humorous and inspiring travelogue of his life beginning with his childhood in Queens to his studies at Cornell University under Nobel Laureate Alfred Gilman to his eventual decision to start Regeneron with a fellow scientist. He spoke about the company’s early years: after a promising debut, the company had a high-profile series of drug failures.

“Wall Street was merciless,” said Dr. Schleifer. “Our stock dropped… We were running out of money. Our corporate obituary was written in the Wall Street Journal… Failure is valuable, but it isn’t fun. We decided not to give up. We would embrace failure as a learning opportunity. “

Afterwards, the company launched its first successful drug, Eylea, an effective treatment for the blindness caused by macular degeneration. More than twenty-million doses of the drug have been distributed and the company has patented seven successful drugs since then, ranging from drugs used to fight skin cancer to those that combat high cholesterol. The company currently has a market value of $35 billion.

“All these years, we were failures to the outside world, but in our hearts, we felt we were actually making critical progress,” said Dr. Schleifer. “We steadfastly were building the tools that would lead to our eventual success. Perhaps the hardest thing for us and for you is to stay true to yourselves. Do not let critics push us off our paths.”

During his speech, Dr. Schleifer also touched on the larger aspects of corporate ethics, including an op-ed he wrote in The New York Times about public companies pledging equity to help develop America’s infrastructure, Regeneron’s employee share buy-in program, and one of the company’s most recent charitable donations: a $100 million sponsorship of the popular high school national science competition formerly run by Intel.

“I hope you realize that you have to take risks to realize your potential,” concluded Dr. Shleifer. “You will likely fail along the way. But if you persevere, your rewards will be great.”

Touro College Provost Patricia Salkin, Esq., and Nadja Graff, Ph.D., Touro College’s Vice President of the Division of Graduate Studies, also delivered words of encouragement to the new graduates.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” said Provost Salkin. “Dream big. We are counting on you to make the world a better place.”

“Accept the challenges ahead and know you have the skills to match them,” advised Dr. Graff. “Use all you have learned to help others. Stay lifelong learners and trust yourselves.”

After introductions by their respective deans, a graduate from each school delivered brief remarks. The speakers were Yocheved Friedman, of the Graduate School of Jewish Studies; Pamela Sarita of the School of Health Sciences; Johanan Eunice Livioco of the Graduate School of Technology; Dawn Irizarry of the Graduate School of Social Work; Julie Satt of the Graduate School of Education; and Crystal Rivera of the Graduate School of Business.

The diversity of Touro’s student body was on display in the biographies and speeches of the student speakers. Friedman is an Orthodox Jewish mother of six who just finished a novel; Livioco is a violinist and singer who traveled from the Philippines to attend the Graduate School of Technology; Irizarry, of Staten Island, spoke of growing up in an abusive home and leaving an abusive marriage to pursue her college and social work degrees later in life; Satt spoke of how her autistic brother inspired her to work in special education; and Crystal Rivera earned her master’s degree in human resources while working full-time and taking care of her three children.

Friedman, whose thesis focused on the work of the great 20^th century Jewish theologian Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, spoke of the symbolism of the many-colored coat given to the Biblical patriarch Joseph. “It was a message of accepting unity,” said Friedman. Speaking to her fellow students, from all educational backgrounds and walks of life, she finished: “We will be grateful for the coat of many colors we have acquired here.”