Michael Stoler is a New York real estate leader and Managing Director of Madison Realty; President of New York Real Estate TV and host of the television shows Building New York: New York Stories and The Stoler Report; real estate commentator for 1010 WINS and real estate columnist for a variety of publications.
Despite his leading presence and professional interests in the real estate business, many of Stoler’s philanthropic interests lie in a variety of health-related organizations, and he has served on the boards of NYU Langone Medical Center, Helene Fuld College of Nursing, and American Friends of Rambam Medical Center, among others. He is also a former chairman and current honorary chairman of the Men’s Division Executive Board at YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Most notably, he co-founded the Foundation for Medical Evaluation and Early Detection in November 2001. “I spoke to a few of my friends, and we decided to come on board as benefactors and pool resources to provide funding for all types of medical screenings,” said Stoler.
The Foundation’s primary mission is to make screenings for various diseases – such as stroke, seven forms of cancer including prostate cancer, lung cancer, chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis – available to the general public free of cost in the hope that early detection can save lives. The Foundation works with leading academic and medical institutions to participate in these free screenings.
“We have no overhead and no operating expenses – our mission is simply to obtain funding to negotiate testing fees with healthcare institutions to help more people get tested,” Stoler said.
Stoler, who serves as President and CEO of the Foundation, became familiar with Jewish genetic diseases when a friend of his confided in him that he was raising a young child suffering from Mucolipidosis Type IV (ML4), a debilitating and rare Jewish genetic disease that has left the child without the ability to walk, talk, and eventually, see. His friend told Stoler that he and his wife were tested in college by an organization that was limited in its scope of testing for genetic diseases. Unfortunately, prior to their marriage, neither his friend nor his wife were ever advised to undergo further Jewish genetic testing despite the fact that additional tests had been made available.
Stoler declared, “I committed right then and there to working toward ensuring that no couple ever faces the tragedy and hardship my friend is dealing with on a daily basis.”
Through his Foundation, Stoler has pledged a gift of at least $60,000 to Yeshiva University’s Program for Jewish Genetic Health; the gift is being applied toward providing carrier testing for ML4 and other Jewish genetic diseases to uninsured and underinsured individuals, some of whom have been referred to the Program by Stoler himself.
Dr. Susan Klugman, Director of Clinical Services and Community Outreach for YU’s Program, along with the Program’s genetic counselor Estie Burns Rose ’07S, counsels these individuals on how genetic diseases work and how screening can help determine whether their children might be affected by certain diseases.
Dr. Klugman, who is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health at Einstein and Director of Reproductive Genetics at Montefiore Medical Center, declared, “There are currently tests available to screen for 18 Jewish genetic diseases, but the screenings cost a lot of money and many insurance companies are unwilling to pay this cost until a woman is pregnant. Unfortunately, a couple who finds out they are both carriers at this stage faces a terrible decision to make.”
Dr. Klugman continued, “It is essential that we find donors who are willing to help today’s young couples get the information they need before starting their families. Mr. Stoler has risen to meet this challenge head on and is helping to make our community screening program possible. We applaud Mr. Stoler for his firm commitment toward making sure he doesn’t meet another young couple with a child who is affected by a Jewish genetic disease.”
Awareness of screening for and educating the public about Jewish genetic diseases is, thankfully, a more common phenomenon today, and YU’s Program for Jewish Genetic Health, officially created in 2010 in partnership with Einstein, is playing an instrumental role in this effort.
The Program has three main objectives: to enable access to genetic testing for all, regardless of one’s financial situation; to increase awareness among lay people and community leaders about all genetic health issues that could affect the Jewish people, including the need for Jewish genetic testing prior to marriage and pregnancy; and to serve as a resource of information and medical guidance for those who seek to learn more about Jewish genetic diseases.
“Knowledge is power,” said Dr. Klugman, “and we are extremely grateful to Mr. Stoler and his Foundation for their support of our efforts to make this critical testing available to all people regardless of their financial situation. Nobody in the Jewish community should face a genetic health issue because of financial barriers.”
Stoler also works with YU in other capacities, such as serving as moderator of last year’s Real Estate Panel at Bernstein Global Wealth Management, at the request of his friend Joshua L. Muss, a Trustee of YU. He is chairing a real estate panel for the Einstein Men’s Division in February, and is working with the YU Real Estate Group on its next event in March.
“Jewish causes are important to me,” said Stoler simply. “Whether it’s health or education, Yeshiva is helping to change the world and I am proud to be a part of that.”
As I am quiet new in Jewish, looking around for some Jewish information> Got something important here. Nice to get it.
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