The Visionary Fall 2009

The Visionary – Fall 2009 • Page 20 W hen Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine (SECOM) (now known as NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine) was established in 1979, none of us had any idea what lay ahead in terms of the growth and proliferation of SECOM, Southeastern University of the Health Sciences, and the Nova Southeastern University Health Professions Division—a fantastic development over a relatively short period of time (6 colleges in 16 years). College of Pharmacy – As we were developing SECOM, the executive director of Southeastern Hospital in North Miami Beach, which was located across the street from us and named after us to create a uniform identity, visited Mort Terry. He complained that he could not find enough pharmacists and asked why we did not start a pharmacy school. Around the same time, a young, dynamic owner of a local pharmacy, Allen Nichol, volunteered with us and became a sparkplug in the development of this new school. Of course, HPD Chancellor Fred Lippman, who has played such an active role in our growth, was especially helpful with this college. A pharmacist himself, Fred advised us, brought in community pharmacists, and created a board of overseers, among other things. Within 15 months of deciding to establish this program, we had organized a new pharmacy school and had taken our first class. College of Optometry – Lee Diamond, an established optometrist practicing down the street from us, frequently volunteered in the planning for a college of optometry and was a key player in its founding. It had been only a couple of years since we established the College of Pharmacy, but we made the decision to begin work on a college of optometry, especially since there was none in Florida. Lee arranged a meeting with the state association, where we were encouraged and became impressed particularly by one of its representatives, Stewart Abel. Mort and I asked him to join us, and he was hired as the first optometry dean, with Lee joining him in administration. At that point, Mort and I realized we had met the state educational requirements of having three schools, so we became Southeastern University of the Health Sciences. College of Allied Health – SECOM had hired an outstanding physician assistant, Kay Ericson, who was making a name for herself teaching in our Physical Diagnosis course. That gave us the impetus to start a P.A. program and, working with Kay, who became its first director, we established the College of Allied Health. We also intended to add occupational therapy and physical therapy programs, which we did soon after the college was created, with Stan Cohen taking the reins as its acting dean until we could hire a fulltime dean. (It is interesting how, in each case, a single individual—now gone— influenced the establishment of a new college: Allen Nichol, Lee Diamond, and Kay Ericson.) College of Medical Sciences – It was obvious that all four colleges utilized basic medical sciences, so why duplicate expenditures by hiring separate faculty members? As a result, we created the College of Medical Sciences to provide all the basic science needed by the four schools and to produce programs of its own, such as a master’s degree in medical sciences. College of Dental Medicine – Not surprisingly, Mort and I had been discussing our next move. We discussed veterinary medicine and dentistry and even found a perfectly suitable farm nearby (we had heard that South Florida needed a large-animal facility, and the nearest veterinary school was in Gainesville). After much discussion, we determined to go with dentistry. Interestingly, my personal friend from Philadelphia, Seymour Oliet, a longtime faculty member and professor of endodontics at the University of Pennsylvania, visited Florida each year. On each of many visits, we had kidded about starting a dental school and conjectured that he would be the dean—neither of us ever dreaming that it would become a reality. The idea was presented to the board, which approved a taskforce to investigate. Seymour was appointed chairman. The taskforce was large (35-40 members) and representative of every constituency, including the community. Its unanimous decision led the board to establish the College of Dental Medicine, and the university engaged Seymour as the dean of the first new dental school in the United States in 25 years. So, that’s where we went—six semi-independent colleges— independent but with equality within the university. Not like all other medical schools that added programs and retained oversight and jurisdiction over the other programs, subjugating them to the medical school supervision. It was rather more like a family. First, there was husband and wife, then mom and pop, then the kids. Those children grew up and became adults living their own lives, but always carrying a loyalty and connection to mom and pop. That’s how families grow; that’s how we grew; that’s the secret of our success in developing one of the largest complements of health professions schools in a single university. That’s real family. Looking Back…at Where We Went By Arnold Melnick, D.O., M.Sc., FACOP Dr. Arnold Melnick is the founding dean of Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine (the precursor to NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine) and served as executive vice chancellor and provost of NSU’s Health Professions Division until 1998).