The Orthotics and Prosthetics program took first place at the Elkins Parks, Pennsylvania campus, the Pediatric Team Room won top honors at The Eye Institute (TEI) and The Eye Institute at Chestnut Hill was first among the Chestnut Hill/Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI)/Speech-Language Institute (SLI) in the annual holiday door decorating contest for Salus University.
The O&P door featured the Philadelphia skyline with a sleigh displaying dreidels and kinder driven by Salus President Michael H. Mittelman, Drexel president John Fry, Salus chief of staff Beth Moy and Salus provost Gerry O’Sullivan.
Included in the display included reindeer, in the form of Drexel dragons with faces of the eight students from the first cohort of the O&P program. Along with Salus mascot Sal the salamander, students from the second cohort made up the stars in the ski. The vision for the design came from Ernstha Jovin, administrative assistant in the O&P program.
“We saw a few of the other doors being prepared and we knew we would have some tough competition,” said Julie Quinlan, MPO, MS, CPO, ATC, FAAOP, an instructor in the O&P program. “We were thrilled to find out that we had won.”
At Elkins Park, second place went to the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) faculty member Michelle Britchkow, OD ‘09; and third place went to the Office of Admissions.
At TEI, second place went to the Neuro-Ophthalmic Disease Service and third place went to the Call Center. Kiana Hardaway, supervisor of Patient Care Services, and Sediah Kelty, director of Patient Care Services, each received honorable mentions for their doors.
At Chestnut Hill/PEI/SLI, second place went to PEI and third place went to SLI.
In other holiday news, the University also held its annual holiday celebration for faculty and staff Friday, Dec. 15 in the Hafter Student Community Center gymnasium. The event featured food from Curds & Whey, desserts from staff members, festive games, raffle prizes and dancing. It was the first holiday party back in person since the onset of the pandemic.
As completed annually, the following employees were presented with service awards too:
40 years
- Mary Jameson, BHS, CPOT, assistant director of Specialty Care at TEI
35 years
- Esther Colon, bursar
- Wendy Woodward, director, sponsored programs.
25 years
- Carlo Pelino, OD '94, FAAO, chief, Chestnut Hill
- Kelly Malloy, OD '97, Resident '97, FAAO, Dipl., chief, neuro-ophthalmic disease
- Shannon Boss, registrar
20 years
- Pamela DeAnnis, accounts payable coordinator
15 years
- Garland McCoy, secretary to the vice president of Clinical Operations
- Jenny Myung-Shin, OD, Resident '09, FAAO, assistant professor, pediatric and binocular vision service
- Joseph Dent, custodial technician
- Richard Murray, safety and security officer
- Shithal Mani, OD '03, FAAO, director of Off-Campus Residency programs
- Vernell Lee
10 years
- Alice Refsnider, optometric technician TEI
- Alissa Coyne, OD '10, Resident '11, FAAO, Ophthalmic Laser and Minor Surgical Procedures lecturer/coordinator
- Andrea Tyszka, OTD, MSOT '18, OTR/L, SIPT, associate professor
- Asami Kojima, administrative assistant
- Josh Kim, OD, FAAO, assistant professor
- Bhawan Minhas, OD, Resident '14, FAAO, associate dean of the Accelerated Scholars Doctor of Optometry program
- Caitlyn Foy, DOT, MOTR/L, CLA, director of the Occupational Therapy doctoral program
- Bre Myers, AuD '06, PhD '17, CH-AP, assistant dean of Foundations and Assessment of Audiologic Medicine
- Christine Lant, MBA, administrative assistant
- Fern Silverman, EdD, OTR/L, associate professor
- Joseph Schuler, safety and security officer
- Lawrence Walsh, MA, associate director of Admissions
- Mark Street, assistant professor
- Michael Mittelman, OD '80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, Salus president
- Monae Kelsey, MS, director of Student Engagement
- Rachel Brackley, OD '09, Resident '10, FAAO, externship director
- Rebecca Blaha, AuD, clinical educator PEI
- Tracy Offerdahl-McGowan, PharmD, assistant professor
Five years
- Anna Grasso, OTD, MS, OTR/L, CAPS, ECHM, associate professor and Academic Fieldwork coordinator
- Brandy Scombordi-Raghu, OD '98, Resident '99, director of Optometric Clinical Outreach
- Brian Hiltner, healthcare applications trainer
- Carolyn Lucas, housekeeping
- Christine McCormick, DMS, MMS, PA-C, director of Educational Competency and Strategic Innovation
- Devon Walton, safety and security officer
- Erika Cardamone, MS, CCC-SLP, clinical educator at SLI
- Jacqueline Patterson, CFRE, vice president of Institutional Advancement and Community Relations
- Ranjani Balachandran, Educational program coordinator, PCO
- Judith Koza, MA, CCC-SLP, clinical educator, SLP
- Kimberly Cafarella, coordinator of Post-Baccalaureate Program, SLP Concentration
- Lindsay Cardillo, HRIS administrator
- Luis Trujillo, OD '09, Resident '12, assistant professor
- Radheeda Barlow, patient access coordinator
- Robert Andersson, MSC, MEd, PhD, FBCLA, FAAO, assistant professor in Biomedicine
- Ryan Whalen, safety and security officer
- Sherman Morrissette, safety and security officer
- Stanley Hatch, OD, MPH, FAAO, chief of Pediatric/Binocular Vision Services
Have a restful break and Happy New Year!
