COM Outlook Spring 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 3 The new year began with some exciting news—the establishment of the Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Veterans Access Clinic, which is providing much-needed opportunities for veterans and their fam- ilies to receive health care services that are unavailable at various South Florida VA medical center clinics. We are now providing care to this patient population through our full spectrum of health care clinics available throughout the Health Professions Division (HPD) and other programs at the university. We are thankful to the governor’s office and the Florida legislature for providing NSU with significant initial funding for this initiative. Our goal is to justify that ongoing annual funding to NSU for this enterprise is pivotal to providing vital health care services to these great American heroes and their families. In addition to the creation of the NSU Veterans Access Clinic, the university is set to launch another major initiative—NSU Health—which is being led by Harry Moon, M.D., NSU executive vice president and chief operating officer, to enhance and consolidate the myriad health care clinics that are overseen by NSU’s Division of Clinical Operations. Preliminary discussions are underway for the repurposing of the 82,000-square- foot Dolphins Training Facility, which will become available within the next year or so when the Dolphins move to a new site in Miami Gardens, Florida. The over- arching goal is to create a collaborative facility for the provision of all our NSU clinical services. For example, a patient at one of the College of Optometry clinics can be referred to other NSU clinical services in the same building if evidence of cardiac or diabetic disease is observed during a routine eye exam. This upcoming consolidation will provide a multiplicity of collaborative opportunities to better serve NSU’s large patient population. The creation of NSU Health, and the consolidation of clinical services to the repurposed facility, will also allow us to revamp the Sanford L. Ziff Health Care Center building and utilize it in a more efficient way. For instance, it will allow us to provide additional student health services to our growing student popula- tion and provide desperately needed space for the expansion of the College of Dental Medicine. I commend the administration and the NSU Board of Trustees for supporting NSU President George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., in creating a new paradigm of health care service that will offer the type of all-encompassing care patients both want and expect from their health care providers. Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D. Chancellor, Special Projects Health Professions Division HPD COMmuniqué