“I was committed to becoming a physician,” laughed Isaac Reich, MD, a 2005 alum of Lander College of Arts and Sciences in Flatbush (LAS). “I had no backup plan. All I wanted to do was become a doctor… My father always came home from work tired, but he always seemed so happy at work. The idea that you could love your work and make a difference in people’s lives was incredibly inspiring.”

To achieve his goal, Dr. Reich attended LAS, where he received a stellar education while also continuing his studies in yeshiva.

“Lander College of Arts and Sciences set me up to be academically and professionally successful,” explained Dr. Reich. “It enabled me to continue my rabbinical studies during the day and go to college at night.”

A star student at LAS who became close with the school’s exemplary biology department, Reich was accepted into his first choice for medical school, The State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine. He completed his degree in 2009 and now works with his father, though moved now to a medical offices space and no longer in the basement of their home. His name is now listed on a plaque below his father’s. The two practice comprehensive ophthalmology which provides eye care to all patients—ranging from newborns to septuagenarians.

“The eye is truly a wonder of God’s creation,” said Dr. Reich “As an ophthalmologist, I have an opportunity to help people in a very significant way. When I operate on someone who can’t see and, with God’s help, enable them to see again, it’s very thrilling. There’s no price for something like that.”

“I’m standing on very broad shoulders,” concluded Dr. Reich. “Going from a little boy who came home from school through the office in the basement to the point now where I’m working alongside my father is the fulfillment of a dream.”