The Visionary Fall 2009

The Visionary – Fall 2009 • Page #3 CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D. It’s hard to believe that 20 productive years have passed since the College of Optometry accepted its inaugural class in 1989. How the college earned its place as a vital component within the NSU Health Professions Division is an interesting story. Dr. Morton Terry, founder of Southeastern University of the Health Sciences, which merged with Nova University in 1994, thought it was imperative to establish a primary eye care college that could train new generations of optometric professionals and provide essential services to communities throughout South Florida. Dr. Terry felt very strongly about these issues, so after many discussions with health professionals and health planners, he decided to forge ahead with the creation of the first—and still only— college of optometry in the state of Florida. It was the third school we created in our thriving six-college structure now known as the Health Professions Division at Nova Southeastern University. And I’m proud to say it’s been an absolute joy to watch the college mature and witness the multiple numbers of optometric professionals we have graduated over the years become leaders in the profession across the United States. The College of Optometry had a very successful launch in 1989 and immediately began addressing a very large service need in the catchment area of care at its clinic in North Miami Beach. To this day, The Eye Care Institute at North Miami Beach remains a very vital source of primary eye care for the community of North Miami-Dade County. The optometry program, as is the case with the maturation process of all academic programs, has gone through its share of proverbial bumps in the road over the past two decades. That’s why I give a lot of credit to the pioneer faculty and particularly to the longtime dean of the college, Dr. David Loshin, who has served as dean since January 1997. He is clearly an example of not only a very capable education administrator but also an incredible education curriculum expert in the field of optometry. He is renowned in this country for the development of up-to- date eye care and for providing a tremendous amount of community benefit through his advocacy, especially in the areas of low-vision and multi-specialty care. Over the years, Dr. Loshin and his dedicated faculty and staff have gone out of their way to provide the student doctors at the College of Optometry with the opportunity to learn leading optometric techniques. They also have done a superlative job of advancing the clinical services provided at our eye care institutes in Davie, Fort Lauderdale, and North Miami Beach, all of which are extremely well thought of by the public. In addition to the aforementioned areas, the college has consistently demonstrated a very strong commitment to the community- at-large by providing free eye screenings through its participation in community outreach endeavors, local health fairs, NSU activities such as the annual A Day for Children event, and international medical outreach missions. Another notable fact is that the College of Optometry spent a considerable amount of time developing the first international student exchange program at the Health Professions Division. Dr. Loshin and his administrative team established longstanding relationships with universities in Taiwan and China. As a result, these partnerships provide us with an opportunity to understand the type of health care relationships and the dissimilar styles of care available in countries that often have different traditions—and sometimes possess more comprehensive delivery—than we do. No matter what anyone thinks politically or otherwise, there is going to be a health care reform bill impacting our country in the immediate future. I also think there’s going to be a tremendous focus on primary care and the establishment of medical homes. As part of this medical home concept in many areas of the United States, these interdisciplinary care models are of particular interest where there is a disparity of health professional care services. With the formation of a health care system where these medical homes will be created in tandem with various consortiums or cooperatives, optometric professionals will most certainly play a pivotal role in this reform. I truly think we have a great opportunity to show the rest of the United States how interdisciplinary teaching and the type of interdisciplinary care we provide here in our own health centers is the wave of the future. We clearly possess an educational and clinical structure that dovetails nicely with where our nation’s policymakers are heading in regard to health care. As a result, optometric care is going to be even more important in the very near future than it’s ever been before. Once again, congratulations to the administration, academic colleagues, and support staff on the 20 th anniversary of one of America’s outstanding colleges of optometry.