Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Good morning from our Elkins Park campus where it’s really starting to feel a little like Fall! It’s been another busy week on campus. Please check out some of the other important activities and things going on around campus:
AWARDS CEREMONY: A ceremony honoring our Presidential Medal of Honor and our Alumni Association awardees will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, at the Morris Arboretum, 100 E. Northwestern Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19118. The Alumni Association annually recognizes the professional contributions and achievements of graduates and friends of the institution. The Medal of Honor is bestowed upon those who have made contributions to their profession and for their service to the University. Additionally, we will be acknowledging the outstanding service of our former Board Chair, Jo Surpin.
RACP GRANT: Sen. Arthur L. Haywood, III, along with Pennsylvania state Rep. Napoleon Nelson, were on campus recently to announce a awarding of a $750,000 Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant that will be used primarily for University’s new Orthotics and Prosthetics (O&P) program. Read more about that here.
O&P DIRECTOR: Please join me in welcoming Dr. Chad Duncan to the Salus family. Chad comes to us by way of Northwestern University, where he was the director of the nation’s oldest O&P program. We’re excited to have Chad take the helm of our newest program!
CONTACT LENS SCHOLARSHIP: I. William Collins, OD ‘47, recently established the I. William Collins OD, FAAO, Contact Lens Science Award, a scholarship that will be awarded to two PCO/Salus students. The award is designed for students who rotated through the Contact Lens track and showed exceptional case management skills, which includes the clinical examination, design, fitting and troubleshooting of specialty contact lenses. Read more about Dr. Collins’ generous gift here.
CLASS OF 2022 RESIDENT: Welcome to Alethia Love Harris, OD ‘21, ‘22Resident, one of the current class of residents. It just so happened that The Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University was the first place on the grad school interview list for Dr. Love. She enjoyed that interview and was so impressed with what she saw and experienced that she canceled all the other interviews and decided on PCO/Salus from the get-go. Read more about Dr. Love here.
STUDENTS AT LEISURE: This week’s Students at Leisure (SAL) features Olivia Burger ‘22 OD, whose interest in becoming an optometrist was first piqued in the seventh grade. But by the time she got to PCO/Salus, she found that her love of concert photography was continuing to grow. Read more about Olivia’s passion for both optometry and photography here.
HISPANTIC HERTITAGE MONTH: Throughout the month we will be highlighting faculty and alumni on social media for Hispanic Heritage Month. This week, Dr. Fabiana Perla is featured, so check it out on our social media feeds!
SALUS SCOOP RETURNS: The Salus Scoop, held to give first-year students an opportunity to learn more about the University’s clubs and organizations and how they can become more involved, was curtailed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it returned this year and drew a big crowd to the Hafter Center. Read more about the event here.
FINAL THOUGHTS: As I read and listened to the news this week I couldn’t help but think it’s time we started to talk about climate change and how that might affect all those we care for, no matter what profession we are in. I think the storms that we recently experienced are a sign that things have changed and will continue to challenge all of us. From a public health perspective, climate change will directly affect disease vectors globally - many diseases that may have historically been endemic in tropical or sub-tropical regions will begin to migrate to our part of the world - this is already happening. As the climate gets warmer, mosquitos and other insects that carry diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, West Nile virus and others will begin to follow the warmer weather further north, in our case and further south below the equator. That will present a whole host of often debilitating and devastating diseases to our region that we only saw when on humanitarian missions or in text books. It will be essential that as a teaching and learning institution we begin to include these diseases in our differential diagnosis when evaluating patients who present with symptoms we normally would not link with those diseases.
We also need to be advocating for reducing carbon signatures to help slow man-made climate change. While we don’t think we can make a difference, I would argue that every little thing we can do helps. Not driving to do an errand or even replacing your incandescent light bulbs with LEDs can help. Obviously, it’s going to take greater muscle movements such as moving toward more renewable energy sources and perfecting electric vehicles, but every little bit helps. As Congress and local municipalities begin to grapple with these issues, I ask that you advocate for clean, low-carbon energy alternatives with your local legislators. Our fragile planet is at a tipping point and if we don’t actively and aggressively address climate change now, the migration of mosquitos and other insects are the least of the problems we will have to face. If you want to learn more about disease and climate change, here’s a link to a good article published by Stanford University’s Institute for the Environment.
As you prepare for the weekend, please think about what you can do individually to reduce your carbon footprint. While you’re doing that, try to get out and enjoy the nice weather that’s predicted. As you go about your activities, please remember to wear a face mask when around others, socially distance when you can and continue to wash your hands frequently! Please continue to look out for one another, be safe, be smart and remain SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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