Presidential Medal, Alumni Association Award Winners Recognized

When Sarah Appel, OD ‘79, Resident ‘81, was a resident at the Pennsylvania School of Optometry (PCO), she encountered William Feinbloom, OD, PhD, FAAO, one day. Dr. Feinbloom, a pioneer in the field of low vision rehabilitation for whom the Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Center housed at The Eye Institute (TEI), is described as a serious guy by those who knew him. But on this particular day, he looked pleased, so much so that Dr. Appel noticed.

“You look so happy,” she said to Dr. Feinbloom. “I am. I’ve just found out that I have macular degeneration.Now that I can see what my patients see, I can come up with better strategies to help them.”

Dr. Appel recalled that story and related it to the audience as she received the 2021 Presidential Medal at a ceremony for awardees Sept. 27, at Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia.

That exchange with Dr. Feinbloom stayed with Dr. Appel and had a great impact on all of her 40-plus year career at PCO.

“I think all of us, weather in low vision or any other part of optometry, recognize the fact that we have to be able to understand where our patients are coming from and what their world is like if we’re going to help them,” said Dr. Appel.

The ceremony marked the return to in-person events honoring Salus University’s Presidential Medal winners and Alumni Association Award winners. Because there was no ceremony last year due to the pandemic, medal and alumni award winners from 2020 were also recognized along with this year’s winners.

Among the 2020 Alumni Association Award winners were Andrew Gurwood, OD ‘89, Resident ‘90, who received the Albert Fitch Memorial Alumnus of the Year award; Kathryn Dowd, AuD ‘08, Audiology Alumna of the Year; Faye Miller, O&M ‘14, Blindness and Low Vision Alumna of the Year; Alta Fried, MSOT ‘14, Occupational Therapy Alumna of the Year; Brandi Burns, MMS ‘16, PA-C, Physician Assistant Alumna of the Year; Bhawan Minhas, OD, FAAO, Resident ‘13, Distinguished Service Award; and Vittorio Mena, OD ‘14, Public Service Award.

The 2020 Presidential Medal winners included Victor Bray, MSC, PhD, FNAP; Dr. Gurwood; Neal Nyman, OD, BS; and Fern Silverman, EdD, OTR/L.

The 2021 Alumni Association Award winners included Mitchell Fink, OD ‘69, FAAO, Albert Fitch Memorial Alumnus of the Year award; Jonette Owen, MS, AuD ‘03, Audiology Alumna of the Year; Jule Ann Lieberman, MS ‘13, Blindness and Low Vision Studies Alumna of the Year; Scott Geller, MS, MMS ‘16, PA-C, Physician Assistant Alumnus of the Year; Lisa Stottlemyer, OD ‘98, FAAO, Public Service Award; and Elizabeth Tonkery, OD, MPH ‘13, Special Recognition Award.

In addition to Dr. Appel, the 2021 Presidential Medal winners include Reade Fahs, MBA, Board of Trustees member and CEO of National Vision, Inc.; John J. Fitzgerald III, DO, FACOG, associate director of the University’s Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program; and Giri Sundar, PhD, director of the Distance Education Program at the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA).

Dr. Sundar, whose family was in attendance to see her receive the award, drew a loud and raucous response when she joked that when she was told Salus president Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, wanted to speak to her, she thought to herself, “My job does not rise to the level of the president wanting to fire me.” In fact, what Dr. Mittelman wanted was to inform Dr. Sundar about being named a medal winner.

“When your mother is building her career and contributing to her field, you don’t know the extent to which her daily work is shaping the lives of people,” said daughter Shelia Sundar. “So to watch her receive this award and see her recognized for all the work she has done is really overwhelming. I’m so proud of her.”

Dr. Sundar’s son, Arya Sundar, was equally as impressed, although he admitted to being a little surprised that his mother had led her remarks with such an effective joke.

“We don’t get to see the day-to-day that she goes through and we don’t think about her work on a global scale,” he said. “But when it was put that way, it took me back a second. It was pretty interesting.”

Dr. Fitzgerald is part of the Crozier family legacy, which can be traced to the founding of PCO. He is married to Georgia Crozier, OD ‘84, MS ‘87, the daughter of George H. Crozier, OD ‘49, and Gilda Coppola Crozier, OD ‘43, FAAO, and granddaughter to John E. Crozier, OD, FAAO, a founding member of PCO.

“Because of my affiliation with the Crozier family, I knew what they had done for this institution, I knew about the lifeblood, professionalism and passion that they’ve put into it,” said Dr. Fitzgerald, who joined the PA program 12 years ago. “I always said to myself I would like to end my career teaching somewhere like that. And, then I was finally able to be part of this PCO/Salus family, give back what I really wanted to and model myself after what I learned from the Croziers.”

Fahs joined the Board of Trustees in 2017 and has brought what Dr. Mittelman called “an immense amount of information and insight.” As important, Fahs and National Vision, Inc. have gifted the University a $300,000 grant to relaunch its Summer Enrichment Program for underserved students.

“In my job, I interact with optometrists all the time. I always say to them, tell me about a recent patient interaction. So every week I’m hearing wonderful stories about diseases detected, about sight saved, about the saving of lives,” said Fahs.

In addition to the alumni and medal awards, the ceremony featured recognition of MacuLogix, a company that equips eye care professionals with devices and training needed to effectively diagnose age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The company has established a $25,000 MacuLogix AMD Advocacy endowed award at PCO/Salus to be presented annually to a graduating optometrist who's demonstrated a commitment to managing patients with ADM.

PCO/Salus was selected for the award to honor two of its graduates for their practical commitment to AMD diagnosis — Glenn Corbin, OD ‘82, of Wyomissing Optometric Center and Gary Kirman, OD ‘86, of Kirman Eye.

The company is also donating an AdaptDx Pro, used for dark adaptation testing, to The Eye Institute at Chestnut Hill.

In addition to commencement, Dr. Mittelman called the ceremony one of his favorites. “Our staff is so special, and for me to have the opportunity to recognize them in person is just fabulous,” he said. “These people work so hard on behalf of our students and our patients. And, they deserve all the recognition that they’ve gotten.”

It also gave Dr. Mittelman a chance to interject some personal feelings and anecdotes about the award winners.

“That’s the beauty of Salus. We’re the right size for me to have the opportunity to get to know them and watch them work. I see what they do for their students and their patients. And, that makes it special,” he said.