Recognizing the Brilliant Accomplishments and Research of Our Drexel Colleagues: Week of September 29, 2023

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

Good Friday morning from our Elkins Park Campus, where it’s been a busy week with clinics, classes and labs in full swing. Here are a few happenings across campus:

RECOGNITION RECEPTION REACTIONS: As mentioned in last week’s update, our annual recognition reception for Presidential Medal of Honor and Alumni Association awardees celebrated the outstanding achievements and extraordinary philanthropic support of our alumni. Click here for a story on the reaction of the award winners.

LOOKING OUT FOR KIDS TICKETS: Tickets are available for the 2023 Looking Out for Kids (LOFK) event at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11, at The Switch House at The Battery in Philadelphia. We are honoring Susan Oleszewski, OD ‘76, Resident ‘78, FAAO with the Lighthouse Award. Click here to order your tickets.

O&P STUDENTS DEAL WITH PAIN: September is Pain Awareness Month and amputees can benefit from Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR), a surgical procedure used to improve the control of upper limb prostheses, but also can reduce phantom pain for both upper and lower limb amputees if they are appropriate candidates. To find out how students in our Orthotics and Prosthetics program are learning about TRM, click here.

PEDIATRIC AUDIOLOGY EVENT: Our Audiology program is looking for children seven months to six years old to take part in pediatric audiology laboratories as part of the learning experience for our Audiology students. The students will conduct hearing tests under the supervision of a licensed audiologist. The event will be held from 8 a.m. to noon and from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, at the Pennsylvania Ear Institute, 8380 Old York Road #1200, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Appointments will take no more than one hour although you can sign up for more time slots. Participants will receive $20 per hour, for your child's participation. Before your child can participate, we will need a completed parental/guardian consent form, which will be provided to you on the day of the lab. Contact Osborne College of Audiology assistant professor Jenny Ragan, AuD ‘09, PASC, CCC-A, at jrajan@salus.edu to sign up.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Yesterday, several deans, trustees and senior staff joined me in representing our Salus community at Drexel University’s Academic Convocation. In welcoming new and continuing students to campus, the convocation highlighted brilliant examples of the research and accomplishments of Drexel’s faculty, clinicians and students whose work embodies the mission “integrating education, scholarship, diverse partnerships and our global community to address society’s most pressing challenges.”

The groundbreaking efforts of Associate Professor Rachel Lopez, Assistant Clinical Professor Monica Harmon and PhD student Alex Ashley, are marked by an intentional grounding of their work in community and collaboration. Each is producing exceptional impact transforming the lives and livelihoods of individuals and communities while pushing the field forward in education, research and practice.

The ceremony also underscored the connection between collaboration and innovation. Their achievements speak volumes: solving deep, systemic, complex problems is a team sport.

That same focused commitment to collaboration and innovation is evident throughout our Salus-Drexel integration discussions. President Fry and I are committed to pursuing not just the “Salus way” or the “Drexel way,” but new and combined approaches that members of our Integration Council will create together to position our “OneDrexel” family for growth and success.

At a time when the social fabric of our communities can feel tenuous and uncertain, as evidenced by the events in Philadelphia this past week, we can recommit ourselves to the leading role that Salus and Drexel play in strengthening and improving community outcomes while advancing scholarship, research and education.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of this ambitious, shared purpose and personal point of pride to recognize and applaud the work you do every day at Salus to advance this mission alongside our Drexel partners. My thanks to you and to our Drexel colleagues for inspiring me to recommit to this vital work.

Stay safe, look out for one another, remember that Covid cases are still with us, so please mask when around large groups and come back to campus SALUS STRONG next week!

-Mike