Messages from the Southern California College of Optometry, the School of PA Studies and the College of Pharmacy Program Leadership.
Southern California College of Optometry
Enhancing the value of your degree. That will always be our focus at SCCO. Even during these unprecedented times when just holding it together is a victory, we are boldly moving ahead to keep our 116-year old legacy strong by looking at our mission, goals, objectives and curriculum with fresh eyes. The faculty have embraced the challenges of the pandemic with creativity and unfathomable energy, and they are approaching our vision for the future with that same enthusiasm!
I am pleased to share, Dr. Melissa Contreras was appointed our first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In her role, she will embark on a listening tour, help us develop goals and strategies for recruiting more students of color and from underrepresented backgrounds, infuse cultural humility, equity and inclusion throughout our curriculum and goals, and serve as a resource for our students, faculty and staff to support equity and inclusion in our programs.
We will be sending out surveys to alumni and preceptors to give us your constructive feedback about your experiences here at SCCO and insight into how our curriculum prepares students for the realities of practice. Please take some time to help us shape the future of our programs by filling out the surveys. As Maya Angelou said, “When we know better, we do better.”
It has been a true honor to join the MBKU family this past year and I look forward to meeting our alumni and friends to hear your stories about SCCO!
School of PA Studies
Creativity and adaptability have been cornerstones of our success over the past several months. Faculty have been creative in developing solutions to support learning. For example, Professor Holt created a unique podcast covering a wide breadth of medical topics, giving students the option to “study” while jogging, driving or cooking! Our clinical team also collaborated on a valuable new telehealth clinical rotation, including a specialized track in sickle cell disease, a topic that Professor Fineman presented in a national webinar.
Also impressive is how our students have responded and adjusted to sudden changes in instruction. When the pandemic began, many were in the midst of their Masters Capstone projects that necessitate direct involvement with the community. Under Professor Dettmar and Bob McKenna’s guidance, students produced significant impact in the community by improving health screenings for Down syndrome patients, providing alcohol poisoning education to college students, educating first responders on identifying human tra¤cking victims, and much more. Furthermore, we had two students complete their Leadership certificates (Aaron Hunro and Caitlin Lefort).
The sudden challenges brought on by COVID-19 pushed our creativity more than ever and challenged students, staff and faculty alike to be adaptable. As we say goodbye to our graduating class of 2020, we encourage the CO2022 and CO2021 to continue their hard work. Our commitment to helping them achieve their dream of becoming a PA will not change. In a time when the world needs competent and compassionate healthcare more than ever, I am beyond proud of what our students and faculty are accomplishing.
College of Pharmacy
Due to COVID-19 leaders, in the field of health care have learned, by necessity, the usefulness of technology as it relates to providing remote interactions. Telemedicine has increased dramatically in importance, and now must be seen as a necessity, not just a luxury. Future leaders must also understand the importance of the Interprofessional team to overall health care. Given the level of disinformation that exists in today’s world, now more than ever, health-care leaders must be able to accurately inform their patients as to what is reliable information, and what is not. In my opinion, the current pandemic situation has shown how pharmacists are not only readily available to the public, but how indispensable they are, especially once they start administering COVID-19 vaccines.