If you’re a student at Salus at Drexel University who is actively involved in the advocacy of your profession and one who also shows an interest in public health, there’s going to be more scholarship money available for you.
Before dissolving to officially enter the merger integration process with Drexel in June 2024, the Salus University Board of Trustees established a scholarship in the name of Michael H. Mittelman, OD ‘80, MPH, MBA, FAAO, FACHE, inducted in July 2013 as the sixth president of Salus at Drexel University.
“The establishment of this scholarship by our Salus Board of Trustees is a testament to all that we’ve accomplished together to advance both the Salus mission of transforming health education, research and patient care and our unflagging commitment to our students’ success, said Dr. Mittelman “I am deeply humbled by this tremendous honor.”
Students across all programs at Salus/Drexel will be eligible for the scholarship funds. Of particular interest to Dr. Mittelman is advancing the social determinants of health from a provider’s perspective and advocating for the profession.
In identifying this emphasis for scholarship awards, Dr. Mittelman said, “Salus faculty and our graduates have always been on the leading edge of their professions -- combining the best of teaching, research and education while pushing scope of practice. If we can help students financially as they’re doing all the right things, then to me the scholarship is going to the right place.”
Dr. Mittelman believes Salus/Drexel students learn quickly, through early exposure in the University’s clinical facilities — The Eye Institute (TEI), the Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) and the Speech-Language Institute (SLI) — the importance of offering sufficient access to quality healthcare. In addition, the students draw patients from a major metropolitan area like Philadelphia, patients who may not always have access to quality healthcare.
“You put that all together and you have a pretty high-powered healthcare system that can really dive into the communities we serve and improve access and improve the health of these people,” said Dr. Mittelman. “You’ve got to have people motivated to do that, and this scholarship is one small way of giving people that carrot and say we appreciate the fact that you’re really going after it.”
According to Jacqueline Patterson, MPA, CFRE, vice president of Institutional Advancement and Community Relations, Salus at Drexel University, the first distribution of scholarship money from the fund will be in 2026. To be eligible, students will be asked to complete an essay.
For more information and to contribute to the scholarship fund, click here.