Dr. Steven Kravitz graduated from TUSPM in 1979, but his journey to podiatry started well before that. Kravitz’s father was a lamp salesman, selling lamps on the west coast by the boxcar. His father, who passed away when Steven was 18, encouraged him to go into medicine. But after consideration of various medical specialties and dentistry, Dr. Kravitz discovered podiatry and liked what he saw. Podiatrists had a private practice, surgical privileges, good home lives and financial security. Because of this, podiatry was his first choice of profession when applying to medical school. “I always loved the field. It was always good to me,” he said.
Nevertheless, he had a similar first year experience as many have had: “It did not come easy to me, I’m not a photographic memory guy.” Before podiatry school, Dr. Kravitz earned his way through undergraduate school at Temple University by working construction in the summer. He also played and taught drums during the semesters. He was in a band, playing behind a lead singer who could hit Journey’s choruses and a girl who he would describe as the second coming of Cher. This ended once he got to podiatry school, though, as studying took his main attention.
After graduating, Dr. Kravitz got involved in organized medicine in the Pennsylvania Podiatry Association. There, he met Bill Goldfarb, DPM, who ran the largest podiatric surgical conference in the country, and Steven soon became part of the staff and later regular faculty. In 2000, Dr. Kravitz had the idea to have a wound care meeting for the Pennsylvania Association, who liked it but failed to properly support the venture, leading Steven to form his own organization. He went on to found the American Professional Woundcare Association, which he ran from 2000 - 2011 before splitting from the board and forming the Academy of Physicians in Wound Healing (APWH) in 2011. In 2007, he formed The Council for Medical Education and Testing (CMET) which is the only physician specific organization in the United States that certifies all (DPM, MD and DO) physicians equally. He serves as President of both of these organizations.
For current TUSPM students, Dr. Kravitz stresses the value of the APWH Student-Resident Mentoring Initiative which offers FREE APWH membership until they finish their residency programs. The Initiative provides many educational benefits, including free conference attendance, 80 plus online on demand lectures, authorship and research opportunities, certification in wound healing and more.
Steven indicates he enjoys serving as the President both the APWH and CMET. “It’s a busy thing to do, but it’s very rewarding,” he said. He is “greatly assisted” by his wife of 38 years, Meryl, who serves as Vice President of both organizations overseeing all member services.
In the meantime, Dr. Kravitz walks 3 - 5 miles every day and keeps himself busy, passing his time with Meryl and staying connected with his daughter and the rest of his family and friends. He is an avid reader and enjoys a wide range of music and traveling. He has no plans to retire right now, and the state of podiatry is in good hands as long as he remains in the mix.