Students, Faculty,
Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Good morning from
Elkins Park! It’s great to be back on campus to feel the energy after
being gone for over a week!
Unfortunately, I need
to start this week’s update with some sad news. Mr. Richard DePiano, a
Board member since 2003, passed away late last week. Rich was a mentor
and friend who brought a great deal of financial expertise and experience to our
board. He was the Chairman of Escalon Medical Corporation, which
develops, manufactures and distributes surgical and diagnostic products for
ophthalmic applications. He also served on the board of LaFrace
Corporation and Drexel University, his alma mater. At Salus, he served on
our Finance and Institutional Advancement committees. He will be
sorely missed. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.
On the much brighter
side, congratulations to Ms. Donna Agnew, interim Dean of the College of Health
Sciences and Director of our Physician Assistant (PA) program for receiving the
Leadership Development award from the Physician Assistant Education Association
(PAEA). The award recognizes an individual who develops future leaders
among faculty through mentoring. This is the third year this award has been
given. PAEA is the education arm of the profession that supports those working
in PA education. Please join me in congratulating Donna on this
well-deserved honor!
This is also
National PA week, which
recognizes the Physician Assistant profession and its contributions to the
nation's health. Before it was a week-long event, National PA Day was first
celebrated on October 7, 1987 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the first
graduating class of PAs from Duke University.
Congratulations to Dr.
Victor Bray who was elected President of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology at
last week’s meeting. In his new role, Dr. Bray will work to forward the
mission of the ADA which includes the positively affecting the advancement of
practitioner excellence, high ethical standards, professional autonomy and
sound business practices in the provision of quality audiologic care.
Last week, some of our
faculty and students from Audiology, Optometry, Speech-Language Pathology, and
Physician Assistant programs attended the 26th annual Pennsylvania Academy of
Audiology (PAA) Convention in Lancaster, Pa. This convention is a chance to
obtain continuing education units for audiologists and I’m very proud of our
faculty across programs who came together for this occasion. PAA is especially
significant to Salus, as Dr. George Osborne was its original founder and first
president. Thank you to everyone who attended and represented
Salus!
On Monday, the Optical
Women’s Association (OWA) partnered with Salus to present an evening of
networking, learning and fellowship with University staff, students and local
optical professionals. OWA is committed to enhancing and promoting the
leadership role of women in the optical industry and raise the level of awareness
of the multifaceted roles and contributions made by women. The event also
included an opportunity to raise money for our Looking Out for Kids (LOFK)
charity. Thank you to everyone who made this special event happen.
Yesterday was World
Sight Day. In the morning, I had the pleasure of introducing EyeSafe to
our Salus community as we announced the release of the first-ever blue light
handbook, “How to Save Your Eyes in the Digital Age.” Throughout the next year,
members of our staff from Salus, led by Dr. Mitch Scheiman, will be working in
partnership with EyeSafe on further research for the second blue light
handbook.
I’d like to thank
everyone who helped Salus and our Office of Institutional Advancement this week
with our first ever Giving Week. It truly was a remarkable week of receiving
support from faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends. Today is the last
day to reach the goal of 100 gifts – as of yesterday afternoon, we were really
close to meeting our goal! Please help to put us over the
top! Visit salus.edu/givingweek to see exactly how this
week has impacted Salus.
Looking ahead, we have
a special week ahead of us! First, is the Graduate Luncheon followed by
the traditional Physician Assistant Long White Coat Ceremony on Monday, and our
119th Commencement on Tuesday! It's an honor to have Sen. Marie Collett
deliver the keynote address at Commencement and as always, I look forward to
this momentous occasion for our graduating students and their families.
Tomorrow is the AOSA
Optometry Cares 5K run at 9am in Alverthorpe Park in Jenkintown. All
proceeds will go towards the American Optometric Association’s Optometry Cares
charity. So, if you’re up for nice run, walk or combination of the
two in a really nice place, come join us Saturday morning!
Finally, while it’s
supposed to be a little cloudy, the weather is exactly what you’d expect for
Fall around here. I encourage you to get out and enjoy the weather while
it lasts! It will be snowing before we know it! Have a great weekend
– be safe and look out for one another!
Mike
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