University Faculty Development Day 2021

Before the start of the new semester, faculty members from across Salus University received a valuable lesson about the impact of personalized medicine on higher education. The presentation was the focus of the most recent University Faculty Development Day, hosted virtually just prior to the new year.

The online event, which has historically taken place in-person twice a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, featured an in-depth presentation by Dr. Hassan Aziz, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He discussed topics surrounding the healthcare industry’s migration from traditional to personalized, or precision, medicine and how to link the shift with educational goals from both academic and clinical perspectives.

“Personalized medicine is really more of a targeted treatment plan while traditional medicine is just one bill that you give all types of patients, and you expect the same outcomes,” he said during the presentation. “With personalized medicine, knowing the human genome of your patient, you really can customize the treatment. So, the treatment that works for the first patient might require a different dose for the other patient and maybe a completely different treatment for the third patient.”

In addition to Dr. Aziz, the event featured a discussion session where all faculty took a deep dive into data collected from a recent faculty survey being used by the University’s Academic Assessment Committee with plans to develop a student survey. 

All told, the three-hour event included more than 50 faculty members from across the University. Participants explored teaching and learning trends in higher education and had the chance to share their own anecdotes and best practices in relation to the current educational needs of students.

Provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, Barry Eckert, PhD, welcomed new faculty to the Salus community along with James Konopack, PhD, dean of the University’s College of Health Sciences, Education and Rehabilitation (CHER), and Melissa Trego, OD ‘04, Resident ‘09, PhD, dean of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus.

At the start of the event, University president Michael Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, prefaced his opening remarks with a sincere thank you to the faculty and a heartfelt farewell to Satya Verma, OD ‘75, FAAO, DPNAP, Diplomate, who just retired as the University’s director of PCO Externship Programs after half a century of service to PCO/Salus. Dr. Mittelman continued with University updates and addressed changes to the COVID-19 safety protocols, including new vaccination requirements, expecting all students, faculty and staff to receive their booster by February 13. He concluded with a warm welcome to new chief of staff, Beth Moy, along with words of excitement and anticipation for the year ahead at Salus.

“Let me just finish with saying a personal thanks for everything that you have done to keep us moving forward and extremely successful,” he said. “I have received more compliments from people outside of our community about our interactions within the community and how well we have done as a University family. And that credit all goes to every one of you here today.”