Education
Gratz College Launches America’s First Master’s Degree in Antisemitism Studies
PHILADELPHIA, February 22, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Gratz College is launching the first Master of Arts degree program in Antisemitism Studies in the United States in Fall 2024. This ground-breaking program will help fill the vacuum of knowledge about antisemitism across Jewish, non-Jewish, and governmental organizations responsible for generating policy to combat prejudice at a time of unprecedented Jew hatred.
It will:
• Provide an academic home for those seeking to develop both a deep theoretical and practical understanding of antisemitism;
• Help generate new and impactful research on the factors that contribute to growing antisemitism and test interventions that can successfully combat it; and
• Arm educators and practitioners with the most effective antisemitism pedagogy and programming.
Through degree concentrations in teaching, advocacy and research, graduates of this program will be uniquely qualified for prominent careers in education, think tanks, government relations, public policy, and community organizations (Jewish and non-Jewish).
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is eager to see this program take shape:
“We’re seeing a dangerous rise in antisemitism, hatred, and bigotry across our country – and it’s more important than ever that Pennsylvanians be equipped with a thorough knowledge of our shared history and the skills to discern fact from fiction. Gratz College is already renowned for its Holocaust and Genocide Studies programs, and I am encouraged the College is expanding upon that work with a new Master’s degree in Antisemitism Studies. I wish the faculty, staff, and especially the inaugural class of Antisemitism Studies students, great success in their work.”
The program is directed by Dr. Ayal Feinberg, antisemitism studies expert and Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz College. The program boasts a distinguished interdisciplinary faculty from academia and leading public advocacy organizations. Despite its infancy, the degree has been endorsed by nearly one hundred scholars and public policy experts from around the world. Professor of Political Science at Kalamazoo College R. Amy Elman asserts, “With an emphasis on operationalizing knowledge, informed teaching and ethical advocacy, Gratz’s innovative graduate program fulfills a deep need in countering antisemitism.”
Gratz’s Antisemitism Studies program is also establishing ground-breaking partnerships with the world’s most prominent Jewish organizations and programs to combat antisemitism in the classroom, on campus, and in professional workspaces. In the first such partnership, Gratz and The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History have joined forces to launch the National Education Fellowship on Antisemitism. The aim of this fellowship is to generate and assess paradigm-shifting middle and high school curriculum to reduce Jew-hatred and prejudice more broadly.
As an early adopter of online education, a 128-year history of Jewish learning, and home to the world’s largest graduate program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Gratz is uniquely qualified to take on this necessary and overdue program.
On March 4, 2024, the master’s degree program will kick-off with a series of public lectures, including by scholars serving as affiliate faculty for the program. On April 2, 2024, Dr. Avinoam Patt, inaugural director of NYU’s Center for Study of Antisemitism and the Maurice Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies, will deliver a keynote lecture, titled, "Awake My People": Jewish Responses to Antisemitism in the Modern Period.” Additional talks will take place before the program officially begins in August.
Prospective students eager to start may apply now and take courses as early as March 2024 with electives in Antisemitism Studies already developed as a preview to the program.
Gratz College is grateful to the Isidore and Penny Myers Foundation for generously supporting the launch of the Antisemitism Studies program. Jay Myers, Board Chair, shared: “The Isidore and Penny Myers Foundation, a family foundation guided by Jewish American values, sees great worth in educating future generations about the roots of Antisemitism, and by doing so, working to combat it. This degree program will create scholars who can devote their talent to meet this challenge. Our Foundation is proud to support this work and by so doing, meet our obligation to help repair the world.”
Contact: lcohen@gratz.edu for more information.
Contact Information:Lori Cohen
Director of Marketing and Design
lcohen@gratz.edu
215-635-7300 x182
Original Source: Gratz College Launches America's First Master's Degree in Antisemitism Studies
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Freyja HealthCare’s VereSee™ Device Receives 510(k) Clearance, the First of Many Products
BOSTON, May 8, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Freyja Healthcare, an early-stage medical device company focused on developing a robust product portfolio of highly innovative products for women’s health, today announced that its novel VereSee device received 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Clearance from the FDA marks a critical step in enabling Freyja and VereSee — the first and only 2mm, safe abdominal-access video-entry device for laparoscopic surgery — to bring further innovation in the fast-growing women’s health market. VereSee will reinvigorate a category that has not seen innovation in over three decades.
Founded by Jón Ívar Einarsson, MD, PhD, MPH, and Gaby Moawad, MD, FACOG, Freyja’s mission is to raise the standard of women’s health in both surgical and in-office procedures, enabling physicians to deliver safe and effective care. As the company’s first novel product, the VereSee device features a proprietary design engineered to be simple for the surgeon, safe for the patient, and highly differentiated from the current standard of care. The company now has four products in advanced stages of development, 17 granted patents and 21 pending patents.
“From the beginning, I’ve been impressed with Freyja’s mission to improve gynecologic solutions for women and the providers who take care of them. With this first product, Freyja is bringing meaningful innovation to a category ready for change,” said Kim Rodriguez, longtime Freyja Executive Chairman and former CEO of Acessa Health.
There are 4.8 million laparoscopic surgeries performed annually in the United States. Abdominal entry is the most dangerous step of laparoscopic and robotic surgery in women’s health, and in all laparoscopic surgery across all specialty areas. This dangerous step results in one patient death and eight injuries in the U.S. each day[1].
“The standard of care is dangerous and outdated. Initial entry is often done blindly with Veres needles or a 5-12mm optical trocar,” said Jón Ívar Einarsson, MD, co-founder and interim CEO of Freyja. “Damaging the bowel or vasculature because of blind entry can cause significant harm, even death, if undetected.”
As a part of the FDA clearance process, Freyja performed extensive testing and documentation of the safety and efficacy of the product, validating the company’s confidence in the design of its VereSee product.
“FDA clearance has been a long process for us, and we know that this is one of the largest barriers to entry for new products in this category,” said Gaby Moawad, MD, co-founder and Board Director of Freyja. “However, we understand the importance of these devices being held to the highest standards of safety and quality. We are proud of the work our team has done to reach this milestone for Freyja.”
Freyja will soon begin initial commercialization of the VereSee device, with broad availability expected in the second half of 2024.
About Freyja Healthcare
Freyja Healthcare was founded in 2017, has four products in advanced stages of development, 17 granted patents and 21 pending patents, and is engineering a robust product portfolio focused on safe and effective surgical and in-office solutions for women. Founded by two well-respected, minimally invasive gynecologic surgeons, Jón Ívar Einarsson, MD, PhD, MPH, Past-President of AAGL, founder of the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (MIGS) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, and Gaby Moawad, MD, FACOG, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GWSMHS). Drs. Einarsson and Moawad are inventing and building the products they wish they had early in their careers and elevating the standards for products used in women’s health surgical and in-office care. Freyja has raised almost $8 million in seed funding from private and professional high net-worth investors. Learn more at Freyja Healthcare.
[1] Clark NV, Einarsson JI. Laparoscopic entry techniques. In: Minimally invasive surgery in gynecologic practice. De Gruyter 2020.
Contact Information:Jerry Brecher
info@freyjahealthcare.com
Original Source: Freyja HealthCare's VereSee™ Device Receives 510(k) Clearance, the First of Many Products
