Health Academy: Week of July 21st

Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board of Trustees, and Friends, 

I’ve spent most of this past week attending Thomas Jefferson University's Population Health Academy.  During the week, we discussed methods and strategies in which health systems can positively impact the health of the communities we serve. We explored the key stakeholders in today’s U.S. healthcare system; discussing some of the complex interrelationships that influence population health, the economic impacts and concept of risk management as it applied to population health management, quality improvement, compliance, health informatics and how to best leverage all the data we collect and ways we could transition all these theories into an executable plan. This was an extremely timely program since the CityLife primary care clinic housed at The Eye Institute will begin to see patients this week with a key intent of this partnership being to impact the health of our local community as well as to provide the potential for student observation opportunities. I’m extremely excited about the prospects of where this new found knowledge will lead us!

Last evening, we celebrated the wonderful and impactful 23+ year career of Dr. Avi Gonen who retired at the end of last month. Dr. Gonen was responsible for helping to establish our international programs, specifically in optometry, first in Europe and Scandinavia and now in Asia. Through Avi’s work, the way optometry is practiced in Europe, Scandinavia and Singapore has been advanced to the point where their scope of practice has been expanded significantly. We wish Avi and his lovely spouse, Raya, the very best as they get ready to start their next adventure.

Last night on the other side of town our Contact Lens Club hosted the first-ever contact lens cocktail party workshop entitled “Color Me Chic” at our Chestnut Hill satellite facility. About 30 Salus students, faculty and staff learned about the different types of colored contact lenses available, which also included our students fitting one another.  We’d like to thank Johnson and Johnson and Alcon for donating the lenses for this fun exercise and well as Dr. Kriti Bhagat, the club’s faculty advisor, for helping to make this happen.

I’ll be participating in the N.J. State Triathlon tomorrow morning at Lake Mercer State Park, so please think of me as I swim, bike and run. This is my small way of actively supporting Salus’ wellness, population health initiatives and practicing what we preach!   Have a great weekend - stay hydrated and be safe.  

Mike