Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board members
and Friends,
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I am writing this while en route back from the World
Congress of Optometry that was held in Hyderabad, India this past week.
Salus was well represented by Drs. Melissa Vitek and Satya Verma, both of whom
presented posters and lectures to the over 1,200 participants from all over the
world. It was especially gratifying to reconnect with Salus PCO
graduates from our international and MPH programs that are either in key
leadership positions in the organization or were presenting lectures and
posters. We also had the opportunity to discuss our new Clinical
Procedures and Virtual Reality labs and hold several meetings with
prospective national organizations who were interested in our International
Clinical Optometry and Advanced Placement programs. It was an
extremely interesting, productive, and busy week and we’ll all be very glad to
be back at Salus next week!
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Keeping with an international theme, we’ve had the opportunity to host eight students from Qassim University in Saudi Arabia on campus over the past couple of months. This is part of an ongoing agreement we have with Qassim to provide lectures, seminars and controlled patient care experiences for students who are completing a one-year internship after graduating from Qassim. While at Salus, these students received additional training in several optometric areas to include low vision, binocular vision, glaucoma, and posterior and anterior segment.
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I am very pleased to share that Zhi Lin (known to us as
Julia), who is a graduate of the Salus Advanced Placement Doctor of
Optometry program (APOD), made history by publishing the first primary eye care
and clinical procedures manual in Chinese. The textbook entitled, "Eye
Health Management,” includes comprehensive information about how to conduct
comprehensive primary care eye exams for both children and adults with a focus
on the clinical aspects of optometry. I was honored to receive a copy of
the book and it’s quite impressive. Please join me in congratulating
Julia on her accomplishment.
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Moving closer to home, thanks to the efforts of our Alumni
Association, twice a year travel
grants are awarded to a select group of students from each program in an
effort to help advance their professional and humanitarian goals throughout
their education. Students are given the opportunity to use the funds to attend
program specific national or regional conferences and participate in a variety
of health screenings during humanitarian trips. The latest group of travel
grant recipients used their funding for activities from February through the
end of July 2017. This is a great opportunity for these students to
expand their knowledge base as well as spread the good word about Salus.
Whenever I return from these long trips, even to countries
like India, where everyone was so friendly and helpful, I have a renewed
appreciation for all we have in the United States, often taken for
granted. After experiencing the traffic and what I would term “exciting”
driving conditions in India, seeing their mass transportation system with
people hanging out of city buses during rush hour, I will certainly look at
SEPTA and the Schuylkill Expressway in a much different light! Even with
everything that’s swirling around us, we are extremely lucky to be in the U.S.
Please take a moment to reflect on that as you approach this weekend.
Also, please keep those recovering from both Hurricane Harvey and Irma in
your thoughts and prayers. While not prominent in the news anymore, the
victims still have a long ways to go before their lives return to normal.
It’s looking like it should be a pretty nice weekend around
Philadelphia so I encourage folks to get out and enjoy the nice weather and all
the wonderful things we have around us.
Have a great weekend and be
safe!
Mike
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