How Touro Is Putting AI to Work Across Its Campuses

Social Work: Practicing Clinical Judgment in a Safe Environment

At Touro’s Graduate School of Social Work, Dr. Jamie Sundvall, Director of the Online Master of Social Work (MSW) program, is integrating artificial intelligence into the curriculum to help students build clinical judgment before entering the field.

AI in action: Through AI-powered tools, students practice real-world scenarios using virtual patients, simulations, and decision-making platforms that mirror the complexities of social work practice.

For example, decision-making trees in virtual environments allow students to interact with simulated clients dealing with issues such as substance use or suicide risk. As students ask questions and apply therapeutic approaches, the “client” responds in real time—through dialogue, facial expressions, and tone of voice—helping students adjust their approach and refine their assessment skills.

Other tools allow students to practice administrative tasks that are often difficult to learn in the classroom, including documentation, billing, referrals, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Simulated platforms replicate real healthcare systems and offer hundreds of customizable patient cases.

The takeaways: These AI-powered environments allow students to practice challenging scenarios repeatedly in a low-risk, controlled setting, while faculty also gain valuable insights into student learning. Because the simulations track decisions and responses, instructors can identify patterns in a student’s strengths and areas for growth and provide more targeted coaching.

Another unexpected benefit: reduced anxiety. Many social work students feel nervous about being observed while interacting with clients. AI simulations allow them to practice skills and build confidence before working with real patients.

As Dr. Sundvall explains:

“AI tools like decision trees reduce a lot of that anxiety for students, and with personalized coaching that targets their strengths and areas for improvement, students are learning faster and more effectively—and better retaining competencies.”

Pediatric Physical Therapy: Enhancing Experiential Learning

At Touro’s School of Health Sciences, Dr. Bhavini Surana, Assistant Professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, received a Faculty Innovation Grant to explore how generative AI can support pediatric physical therapy education.

AI in action: Dr. Surana asked third-year DPT students to use Google Gemini to design weekly physical activity plans for children and young adults—an exercise grounded in a real public health challenge: childhood inactivity and obesity.

Each plan had to include aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activities, along with equipment needs, activity settings, and evidence-based guidelines for frequency and intensity.

The takeaways: As students refined their prompts, they saw how dramatically AI outputs could change. Clearer instructions produced stronger results. Gemini began generating more creative activity ideas, simpler explanations for children, and visuals demonstrating strengthening and aerobic exercises.

Just as important, the exercise reinforced clinical responsibility. Students evaluated AI-generated content against established evidence and reflected on the clinician’s role in validating AI outputs.

For faculty leaders involved in the project, the lesson is clear: AI can extend experiential learning opportunities rather than replace them. In fields where clinical hours and patient access may be limited, AI-supported exercises can help students build foundational competencies before working with real patients.

As Dr. Surana explains:

“Ultimately, the project demonstrated how AI can help PTs efficiently create clear, comprehensive, and patient-friendly exercise plans, which in turn gives them more time for direct patient care and benefits patients and providers alike.”

A Blueprint for Institutional AI Adoption

Across these examples, a clear pattern emerges. At Touro, AI isn’t being treated as a side project or a campus buzzword. It’s being integrated directly into how students prepare for their professions—from healthcare and social work to education and business.

For institutional leaders thinking about how to move from conversation to action, several lessons stand out:

●      Faculty innovation grants create buy-in rather than resistance. They give instructors the freedom to experiment, test ideas, and build AI applications that make sense in their disciplines.

●      AI implementation must be discipline-specific. The needs of a social work classroom are very different from those of a clinical training program or an education course. Successful implementation respects those differences.

●      Focus on professional outcomes. At Touro, AI tools are being introduced in ways that strengthen the real-world competencies students will need in their careers.

When those elements come together, AI becomes a practical tool that helps students think better, practice more, and graduate ready to make a meaningful impact in their professions and in the communities they serve.