Bernard Lander’s successor has finally been named — and he’s not from within Touro College’s ranks. His name is Dr. Alan Kadish and he was recently appointed Touro’s senior provost and chief operating officer. Kadish, an Orthodox Jew who is a physician by training, most recently served as senior associate chief of the cardiology department at Northwestern University. In the coming years, Kadish, 53, is expected to succeed Lander as president, with Lander assuming the role of chancellor. The Jewish Week caught up with Kadish during his first days on the new job.

Q: You’ll be filling large shoes in succeeding Dr. Lander as president of Touro. How do you view this new position?

A: At this point, I’m viewing this as an opportunity to work with Dr. Lander for many years to come. It’s kind of like following John Wooden [the legendary UCLA basketball coach]. Dr. Lander has tremendous relationships with all parts of the Jewish community. He’s incredibly successful at seizing new educational opportunities and meeting unmet educational needs.
When did you first meet Dr. Lander?
I’ve known him for many years. I grew up in Queens just a few blocks from where he lived, and knew some of his children.

How will your health sciences background and training as a cardiologist impact your leadership at Touro?
Most of my professional career has been spent in academic cardiology. For the past decade, I’ve been teaching research and pursuing administration roles. That is very much in line with what I will be doing at Touro. I’ve also served on the finance and investment committees of the Northwestern clinical practice plan. Running Touro is an awesome responsibility. Touro has 17,500 students worldwide whose future lives depend on the success we have. For the past 25 years, I have been responsible for people’s lives. That experience will allow me to make the right decisions during the challenging times ahead.
What is your vision for the future of Touro?

Dr. Lander has articulated two major goals for Touro in the coming years. I fully support and share those goals. We will continue to develop Touro as a health education institution. Currently, Touro operates three colleges of osteopathic medicine, two colleges of pharmacy and several graduate schools and colleges in health sciences. We are looking to start and/or acquire more of them.  As health care reform provides better insurance, the need for trained health care professionals will only increase. Our second goal is to continue to look at places throughout the world where Touro’s unique character as a Jewish institution is needed to help educate youngsters.

Critics of Touro suggest that its continued expansion comes at the expense of enhancing its quality of education. Can you comment?

Having just started at Touro three days ago, I can’t comment on the past. I’ve been at top-notch institutions and wouldn’t come to Touro if I didn’t feel that Touro is on its way to becoming to a top-notch institution. Improving academic quality is a key goal.

You are a graduate of Yeshiva University High School and YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. How will Touro continue to differentiate itself from Yeshiva University?

Touro is a broader-based institution than YU and will continue to be so. Our goal is to enhance Jewish education for Jews of all stripes. We don’t have a particular philosophy other than education. Secondly, we have schools in other geographic locations including major campuses in California and Nevada, in places where we don’t expect the majority of students to be Jews.