Starting The School Year Off Right!

On behalf of the faculty, staff and Board of Trustees, I want to welcome all of our new and returning students to Salus. I’d especially like to welcome those students who represent our inaugural Speech-Language Pathology class. It's already shaping up to be a banner year at Salus as we enter our largest class ever!  

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our great Admissions staff for getting things lined up for this success as well as orchestrating an amazing orientation program that I think everyone enjoyed a great deal. I'd especially like to thank those student and faculty volunteers who helped make this a great success.

While I mentioned this at orientation, I want to remind everyone how important it is to take care of yourself as you begin this new school year. Maintaining your health will help you stay sharp and perform at the highest levels possible. Additionally, as a healthcare professional it's important for you to set a good example for those patients you will be caring for and providing advice to. That means eating right, exercising regularly and getting enough sleep. While I realize everyone has tight schedules I want you to think about how you’re going to prioritize these things into your busy professional and student lives. I’ve done it for over 35 years so I know it’s possible. Get into those good habits now – they will be much easier to maintain later.

You're at Salus during an exciting time. We’re revising many of our curricula from which you all will reap the benefits, updating University infrastructure such as our library, classrooms, other study areas and the optometric clinical procedures lab. At times we may look like a construction zone but the end result will be well worth the slight inconveniences this may present – so please be patient with us. 

As the landscape of healthcare delivery changes, so must our mechanisms for educating future healthcare providers, councilors and educators. Whether we're teaching you how to diagnose and treat conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or hyperlipidemia, Salus is already leading the way in innovative programs through our Optometric Scholars Program and our Inter-professional Education efforts that cut across all of our specialties.  

I recently had the opportunity to attend the World Council of Optometry meeting in Medellin, Colombia along with a good number of our faculty members. What made me extremely proud was the fact that Salus was the only American school there with significant presence and all of our faculty members presented timely, relevant and excellent lectures and posters that were head and shoulders above many of the others I saw. Now, I'm not at all biased, but our folks are truly the very best and it especially showed there!  

As we move into the school year I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone the very best of luck and let you know that we're all here to help you succeed. See you around campus!

Follow me on Twitter: @SalusPresident