Josh Utay is helping train the first cohort in Israel’s first academic program in prosthetics and orthotics.
By David Weissmann
Aug. 28, 2026
Dallas native Josh Utay has spent three decades helping people regain mobility and independence through prosthetics and orthotics. Now, the longtime North Texas educator and clinician is putting that experience to work in Israel as a developer, co-director and educator for the country’s first academic program in prosthetics and orthotics.
The program, a partnership between ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is designed to train certified prosthetists and orthotists in Israel. The need has taken on added urgency since Oct. 7, 2023, as wounded soldiers and civilians have required extensive rehabilitation and prosthetic care.
For Utay, the opportunity grew from a chance meeting in Houston.
Born and raised in Dallas, Utay comes from a family that has lived in the city for several generations. He has been a member of Congregation Beth Torah for most of his life.
Utay began his career in orthotics and prosthetics 30 years ago, spending 15 years in direct clinical patient care before earning a master’s degree in education. That led him to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he spent a decade helping design, accredit and build the curriculum and laboratories for the college’s master’s program in orthotics and prosthetics. He later served as an educational program manager and assistant professor at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth before joining ADI Negev full time in March.
His involvement with national and international accreditation organizations, including the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education and the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics, eventually put him in the right place at the right time.
In 2024, a biennial global educators meeting for the prosthetics and orthotics community was held at Baylor College of Medicine. During the conference, Utay met two leaders from ADI Negev: academic director Yael Dotan-Marom and Dr. Itzhak “Zaki” Siev-Ner, director of its Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center.
At the conference, Dotan-Marom and Siev-Ner shared plans for Israel’s first dedicated academic program for certified prosthetists and orthotists.
“The moment the meeting ended, I ran up to them and said, ‘Hi, I want to help,’” Utay recalled.
ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran is a 40-acre rehabilitation village in southern Israel that provides residential care, special education, vocational opportunities and rehabilitation services for children and adults with severe disabilities. The campus, founded 20 years ago by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog, also provides medical and rehabilitation services to the surrounding region.
The prosthetics and orthotics program was established with support from Israel’s Ministry of Health, Jewish National Fund-USA and the Jewish Federations of North America. Shortly before the program’s scheduled launch in late 2025, however, its lead clinical adviser died unexpectedly.
With the program suddenly without its primary clinical instructor, its leaders turned to Utay to expand his role.
Utay had already begun teaching coursework remotely. In March 2026, he joined ADI Negev full time as a program developer, co-director and educator. He traveled to Israel in the spring and has spent the past several months living in a campus apartment and providing hands-on instruction to the program’s inaugural class.
Utay remains in Israel and plans to return briefly to Plano before heading back for the fall semester.
Israel historically has not had a formal accredited degree program for certified prosthetists and orthotists. Practitioners often learned through apprenticeships, while those seeking certification generally trained abroad.
Training practitioners in Israel could allow patients to receive more of their prosthetic care closer to home and reduce the need for overseas treatment, fittings and follow-up care.
The program’s first class consists of 11 experienced physical and occupational therapists rather than students entering directly from undergraduate programs, as is common in the United States.
Because the students are already licensed medical professionals, Utay can focus his instruction on advanced biomechanical evaluations, casting techniques and device fabrication. Students learn in a custom-built classroom and are expected to use a newly constructed six-room fabrication lab for plaster work, laminated plastics and device fitting.
“Jewish National Fund-USA’s dedicated partnership with ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran has been inspiring,” said Deb Lust Zaluda, president of Jewish National Fund-USA. “We are proud of the world-class rehabilitation and job opportunities created over the past 20 years and are excited for what we will continue to build for the next generation and the future of Israel. Jewish National Fund-USA’s support proves that when vision, compassion and determination come together, lives are transformed and Israel becomes stronger.”
For Utay, living and teaching on campus has also created a personal connection to the community, from celebrating Shabbat with local families to working with patients undergoing rehabilitation.
“There’s a community here that I didn’t anticipate joining that has really welcomed me with open arms,” Utay shared.
ADI Negev is continuing to expand its rehabilitation facilities, with plans for a prosthetics production center in southern Israel. Utay expects to remain involved as the program develops.
“It’s an extraordinary environment to teach in,” Utay said.
