JULY-AUGUST 2015 

New PA Program Director

Salus University provost, Dr. Janice Scharre, has announced the appointment of Donna Agnew, PA-C, DFAAPA, as director of the Physician Assistant (PA) program, effective August 1. In her internal announcement to the Salus community, Dr. Scharre noted that Ms. Agnew, the former associate director of the Arcadia University PA program, has strong experience in accreditation and also serves as an ARC-PA site visitor. ARC-PA (Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant) is the accrediting body for all physician assistant programs in the US.    Read more  
Nicole Rist '16OD Wins 
Varilux Student Bowl at AOA 

One of the most anticipated events during the annual AOA (American Optometric Association) Optometry's Meeting is the Varilux Student Bowl. Students from North American schools of optometry are present to cheer their contestant on to victory and the noise level is surpassed only by the level of enthusiasm. 

    This year, Nicole Rist '16OD brought home the trophy to Elkins Park. Her many supporters included her fellow students wearing their "Seattle Seehawks" T-shirts,  Salus/PCO dean, Dr. Lori Grover, faculty members, alumni and Salus Alumni Association president, Dr. Ken Savitski '87 and his wife, Pamela.

     Ms. Rist was awarded a $1,000 prize by Essilor/Varilux and will have her name engraved on the crystal trophy, which hasn't been to Elkins Park since the 2011 victory of Ian McWherter, OD '12. She is pictured above (holding trophy) with fellow students and Salus/PCO faculty and alumni just after receiving the trophy in Seattle. The formal presentation of the trophy will take place on the Elkins Park campus later this year.

Summer Enrichment Program

The 2015 Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) participants with SEP director,
Mr. Robert Horne (far left). Over a six-week period, the students attended courses and seminars designed to help them transition to a professional degree program. The program was created at PCO in 1976 by Mr. Horne, who "retired" in 2013 as dean of Student Affairs.
Audiology Summer Workshops 

  

Two summer workshops, Vestibular Sciences and Disorders (top photo) and Hearing Assessment and Rehabilitation in Young Children (directly above), were held on the Elkins Park campus this month.  These four-day, intensive workshops are required for the University's Osborne College of Audiology Doctor of Audiology (AuD) degree bridge program and the Advanced Studies certificate program. The workshops are also offered as continuing education for any current audiology practitioners, educators or clinicians and include lectures and hands-on practicum. This year's participants came from as far away as Australia, India and Saudi Arabia. (Participants in both programs pictured above with faculty).

WE SALUTE 

The Salus community extends a warm welcome to the following new members:
Kiri Bhagat, OD, 
Instructor, Optometry
Laine Higa, OD,
Instructor, Optometry
Erin Jenewein, OD, MS
Assistant Professor, The Eye Institute, Research 		Carrie Knight, PhD, CCC-SLP, 
Assistant Professor,
CER- Speech-Language Pathology
Bisant Labib, OD
Instructor, Optometry		James Linden,
Extended Hours Technician, APS
Jenny Rajan, AuD
Assistant Professor, Osborne College of Audiology		Yvette Rodriguez,
Patient Representative,
The Eye Institute
Maxine Scheiman, MS/VRT,
Vision Therapist,
CER-Blindness & Low Vision Studies		David Smith, MPAS, PA-C,
Assistant Professor,
Physician Assistant Program 
Gayle Williams,
Housekeeping
                                _____________________

The Salus community extends its sincere congratulations to the following members:
Dr. Charles Wormington, professor, and Dr. Radhika Aravamudhan, associate professor, on receiving renewed tenure from the Board of Trustees.
Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, dean of Research, on receiving two awards in June: the AOA VRS Dr. Jerry P. Davidoff Vision Care Award, and the 2015 Distinguished SUNY Resident Award.
Dr. Fabiana Perla, Ms. Kerry Lueders and Ms. Jamie Maffitt, Blindness and Low Vision Studies faculty, on their July presentation at the International Orientation and Mobility Conference in Montreal. 
Drs. Alex Dizhoor, Igor Peshenko and Elena Olshevskaya, on the coverage of their GCAP study in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Dr. Victor Bray and Dr. Jay Hall, 
on their contributions to the cover story of The Hearing Journal, 
Dr. Michael Gallaway and Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, on receiving recognition in several publications for their Convergence Insufficiency Clinical Study. 
Dr. Rebecca Blaha and Dr. Greg Genna, Pennsylvania Ear Institute faculty, on completing a Sensaphonic Gold Circle seminar on the specifics of working with musicians.Ms. Lachelle Smith, coordinator, Vision Rehabilitation Therapy program, on the publication of her commentary in the Journal of Blindness and  Visual Impairment.
Dr. Satya Verma, associate director. PCO Externship program and current National Academies of Practice president, on being the subject of an article in the AOA Focus magazine.Ms. Jamie Maffitt and Dr. Fabiana Perla, Blindness and Low Vision Studies faculty, for their article in the
International Journal of O&M.

 

  
Ms. Caitlyn J. Foy, MSOT, instructor, Occupational Therapy program, and her husband, on the birth of their daughter, May Marie Foy, in July.Dr. Barbara Schwartz-Bechet, associate dean, College of Education and Rehabilitation, on being named the winner of the International Award for Excellence for Volume 21
of the Learner Collection.
           _____________________________  

 

Speech-Language Pathology Program Receives Accreditation

On July 27, 2015, Salus University received candidacy status for accreditation with the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA). In his announcement to the Salus community,
President Michael H. Mittelman said, "This (the accreditation) represents a good deal of work and is a great accomplishment for the College of Education and Rehabilitation - and specifically Dr. (Carolyn) Mayo and her team in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology."  Read more
Continuing Education and International Programs Updates

Provost Janice Scharre recently announced a reorganization of the Office of Professional Studies and International Programs (PSIP) in order to align the office more closely with the University's strategic direction to broaden the scope of Salus programs and continuing education. The newly named Office of International and Continuing Education (ICE) will be under the direction of Melissa Vitek, OD, FAAO, with Melissa Padilla, MPH, as assistant director, Janet Wilbur as program manager and Dr. Avi Gonen as associate dean of Global Development. Dr. Vitek also will continue as the director of the Salus/PCO Advanced Studies and Electives programs. The original office from which PSIP evolved was the PCO Center for International Studies, established in 1991. 

NOA Convention 2015 
 
The National Optometric Association (NOA) held its annual conference in Hilton Head, SC in early July. Faculty and students from the University's Pennsylvania College of Optometry attended and several PCO students, members of the PCO chapter of NOSA (National Optometric Students Association) received awards. 

Thomas L. Lewis Scholarship 

Recipients Named
Salus University Student Council has announced that Jill Federico, OD '15 (top right) and Kate Hartnett, MSOT '15 (bottom left) are the  recipients of the 
2014-2015 Dr. Thomas L. Lewis Leadership Excellence Scholarship.
  In their internal announcement to the University community, Student Council noted that Dr. Lewis, president emeritus of the University, "served PCO/Salus for more than 40 years and was an extraordinary mentor to students during his tenure. The Student Council established this scholarship to honor the vision and leadership of Dr. Lewis and to recognize students - the 
 focus of his life's work."
    Awarded annually to two Salus students, the scholarship  recipients must demonstrate academic excellence and a strong  commitment to their future profession, present evidence of a high  level of involvement within the Salus community, and articulate a  clear vision and goals for their future.

New Residents at The Eye Institute

The Eye Institute of Salus University welcomed our new 2015-2016
residents on July 1. Welcome, Doctors!

Primary Care: Dr. Robert Africano; Dr. Jennifer Kwok (SUNY); Dr. Andrew Meagher; Dr. Harpreet Minhas (ICO); Dr. Mae Lynn Niehaus; Dr. Amanda Pallister

Pediatrics: Dr. Amanda Gerrouge; Dr. Andrew Tang

Low Vision:Dr. Erin Kenny

Contact Lens: Dr. Nurit Bor

Neuro Ophthalmic Residents: Dr. Ashley McCann; Dr. Kelsey Moody

Salus Co-Hosts Low Vision Event
The University's College of Education and Rehabilitation Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies (BLVS) co-sponsored "Living Well with Vision Loss: Techniques, Tools, and Technology for Independence" in July at Temple University. The day-long, special event was open to individuals with low vision/vision loss, their families and friends and interested professionals. Pennsylvania's Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT) was also a co-sponsor with Salus and Temple. 
Salus Welcomes Qassim University Students

The Salus community welcomed its third and largest group of optometry students from Qassim University in Saudi Arabia to Elkins Park in June. The eight sixth-year students, who return home in August, were here to augment their clinical curriculum. As part of an agreement between Salus and Qassim Universities, Qassim students attend lectures, participate in workshops and experience controlled patient care at the Salus main campus in Elkins Park. Read more 

A SMOKE-FREE SALUS 

On July 1, the University's campuses and clinical facilities became smoke-free. Our new environment is now more closely aligned with our mission as healthcare educators and professionals. Read the full story in the Times Chronicle

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