An Eventful Fall for Salus - Week of November 17, 2018

Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,

Happy Friday! November is very quickly passing before our eyes. Before we know it, we’ll be sitting around the table eating turkey and cranberry sauce. But, before we get there, there’s lots of great stuff to report that has been happening at Salus - on and off campus.

Our Looking Out for Kids charity fundraiser last Saturday evening was a huge success. We had almost 300 people in attendance at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Pa. to help us raise money for the important task we conduct each academic year of providing comprehensive vision care to uninsured and under-insured children in the Philadelphia and Montgomery County schools. To all of you who helped organize, contribute to, or sponsor the event, thank you very much! Check out the event on NBC10!

This weekend, the University's Pennsylvania College of Optometry is hosting the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) Clinic Directors and Administrators Special Interest Group Workshop both in Center City and on our Elkins Park campus. I would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Maria Parisi and Mr. John Gaal as well as their staff for taking the lead on organizing the three day workshop along with multiple events. About 120 people will participate in this very comprehensive and important workshop.

In the University's Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies, Drs. Fabiana Perla, director of the Orientation and Mobility program, and Yi Yang, an assistant professor at Penn State Abington have initiated a collaborative project. Faculty members are joined by three students in our Orientation and Mobility Program along with three graduate electrical engineering students from Penn State in a project to create an electronic travel device for individuals who are blind or have severe visual impairments. The Penn State team has been coming on campus for a series of instructional sessions on Fridays. We’re very excited about this work.

Faculty and students from the University's Osborne College of Audiology (OCA) attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology conference recently and while there, they honored Dr. Jim Zeigler, one of the college’s clinical preceptors, with the George S. Osborne Honors Award. The award, named for the founder of OCA, is presented to an outstanding Pennsylvania audiologist and advocate for their profession. Congratulations Dr. Zeigler!

This weekend, the Pennsylvania Optometric Association will be co-hosting a comprehensive continuing education event in Harrisburg as part of “Dr. Lombardi’s Final Tour.” This event is being held on Sunday, November 19 at the Best Western Premier/Central Hotel and Conference Center in Harrisburg, PA. Following the lectures, there will be a reception from 3:30-5:30 p.m. hosted by the Pennsylvania College of Optometry to celebrate Dr. Lombardi’s upcoming retirement. There will be food, drinks and sharing of memories. We hope to see many PCO alumni there!

Have a great weekend. I hope you can get out and enjoy this great fall weather before it starts to rain tomorrow.