Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
I guess it’s fitting that as I write this note on the second day of February that it’s snowing outside. It’s been another busy week at Salus.
We began this week hosting our annual and quarterly Board of Trustees meeting. As always, this presents an opportunity for the staff to highlight many of their accomplishments to the Board while at the same time listening or participating in strategic discussions that will help to maintain the University’s position as a top-tiered health science professions university. During my report I shared that our PA, OT and SLP programs all enjoyed a 100% pass rate on their national board certification exams while our audiology program enjoyed a 96% pass rate. Our overall pass-rate for the optometry program was about 85%. We also welcomed four new board members, all of whom previously served as committee members to the board. They include, Sarah Mitchell, Rebecca Delia, Michele Palos-Samsi and Terri Albertson. A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Salus board member Reade Fahs who described the current state of the ophthalmic industry and what he described as disruptive technologies that could potentially affect the way optometric care is provided in the future. It was quite thought provoking and something we need to follow closely. Finally, the Board approved Faculty Emeritus status for Dr. Sue Oleszewski and for Dr. Lorraine Lombardi to receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree during the May commencement ceremony at which she will also be our keynote speaker.
On Tuesday we hosted Col. Robert DeSousa, the State Director for Senator Patrick Toomey and Imani Johnson, Senator Toomey’s Field Representative for our region. The express purpose of the visit was to help educate the Senator’s staff about our Veteran’s Readiness Initiative, spearheaded by Dr. Karen Hansen, and all the other programs we are providing both internally and externally to our local community. Both Col. DeSousa and Ms. Johnson left with newfound knowledge of what Salus does and how we provide much needed services to our veterans, local community and patients throughout Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. I’m hopeful this will help to enhance our visibility on the local and national stage.
Speaking of expanding our visibility on the national stage, I am thrilled to share news that our own Dr. Martin Peinkowski from the Osborne College of Audiology will be recognized at the 2018 American Auditory Society meeting as their 2018 recipient of the Ear and Hearing Editors’ Award for his article, "On the Etiology of Listening Difficulties in Noise Despite Clinically Normal Audiograms.” Each year the Editorial Board members select an Ear and Hearing article to be recognized for its outstanding contribution to the literature on hearing and balance and this year Martin’s article was the winner. We’re extremely proud of this great professional accomplishment.
On Wednesday, Dr. Scharre and I met with our counterparts at Rosemont College to discuss areas where we could collaborate. Rosemont has one of the finest biology and pre-med programs in the region and their president and provost are extremely interested in developing educational pipelines to many of our programs. Working closely with regional colleges and universities helps to ensure we continue to have a strong applicant pool for all of our programs.
I have some sad news to report this week. Many of us who are PCO alumni or faculty might remember Najee Ali who was an optician in The Eye Institute during the 70’s and early 80’s. A great teacher and professional, he also helped to organize many trips to developing and third world countries to provide the poor with free eye examinations and glasses. Most of us remember Najee for his infectious smile, his wisdom, unique sense of humor and love of his family and those he considered family. Najee passed away last week and was remembered during a memorial service earlier this week that was attended by many Salus/PCO staff members. Please keep Najee’s family in your thoughts and prayers.
As some of you know, I am enrolled in an MBA program at Temple University. I am currently taking a course in Management Information Systems which is being taught by the current Vice President for Information Technology at a large pharmaceutical corporation. The primary focus of our course to date has not been on specific systems but rather on disruptive technologies that have often put household name companies out of business. We just completed a case study of Kodak, which is the classic case of a company that had all the tools to compete well into the 21st century, but due to many factors were unable to pivot and adapt from a film-based business to digital photography and leverage that technology. What most folks don’t realize is that Kodak actually invented the first digital camera but because they were so steeped in the belief that film would remain the primary way to save and share memories, they were not able to successfully embrace the digital revolution. While you may not think this is directly related to what we do here at Salus, it does highlight the importance of always being prepared for what might be the next “disrupter” affecting our professions. That’s the purpose of strategic planning and scenario planning, two functions we are actively taking on at Salus.
Finally, it’s Super Bowl weekend! As our Eagles get ready to take on the New England Patriots in Minneapolis, I want to wish everyone a safe and fun weekend. If you’re out and about for the big game on Sunday, please be careful. If you drink, don’t drive and if you’re in the city, please pay attention to your surroundings as I suspect things will get very exciting when the Eagles win.
Mike
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