Centennial
Q&A: Longest-Serving Employees Mitchell Scheiman, OD ’75 Employee since 1982
As we approach the Centennial of the University’s founding college, the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), it’s an opportune time to focus on some of the institution’s longest-serving faculty and staff. Strong foundations are essential for the strength of an organization and often times, the people who lay the foundation are responsible for holding up and maintaining the steadfast structure through the years.
Below is a Q and A with Dr. Mitchell Scheiman, who has served as a faculty member since 1982.
Tell us about your time at Salus/PCO and The Eye Institute.
After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Optometry in 1975, I completed a residency in vision therapy at the SUNY College of Optometry. Although I never envisioned a career in academia, I thought I would give it a try. So I returned to the Massachusetts College of Optometry and worked as a clinical instructor for several years. When it became clear to me that I wanted to make a career of optometric education I looked for an opportunity to advance my career. I was fortunate that in 1982, PCO (Pennsylvania College of Optometry) offered me the position as chief of the Pediatric/Binocular Vision service (at The Eye Institute). I was a young and relatively inexperienced man at the time and I am forever thankful that Dr. (Thomas) Lewis gave me this opportunity. I served in that role for close to 30 years and I have had outstanding support from the PCO and subsequently the Salus University administration.
I have had the opportunity to develop my abilities as a clinical and didactic teacher, researcher and in recent years, an administrator. I have had the pleasure of working with outstanding colleagues in the Pediatric/Binocular Vision Service and will always be thankful for the development opportunities that Dr. Tony DiStefano provided. I am now in my 37th year at Salus University and hope to continue my career for many more years.
What are some of your favorite memories past and present?
I can recall many pleasant memories from throughout my career. One such memory was the thrill of receiving the offer to be Chief of the Pediatric/Binocular Vision Service. More of my favorite memories include receiving major grant funding from the National Eye Institute (NEI), watching colleagues in the Pediatric/Binocular Vision Service such as Drs. Elise Ciner and Michael Gallaway develop into national leaders in pediatrics and vision therapy, and watching Karen Pollack develop into an outstanding clinical trials coordinator and helping to run multiple NEI-funded studies for over 20 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping educate almost 70 (optometric) residents and experiencing students develop a love for the area of vision therapy. A couple more of my most rewarding moments include when I received my PhD at the age of 65 and when I finally got the opportunity to teach occupational therapy students in the OTD (Doctor of Occupational Therapy) program.
Where do you hope the University and its clinical sites go as they move into the future - for the next 100 years?
I am excited about the future as we appoint a new provost. I expect that we will continue to grow and add new programs and strengthen our existing programs. We have been quite successful in competing for external research dollars related to vision and I hope that we can achieve the same success with our other Salus University programs.
