18
COM Outlook . Spring 2015
cessor and longtime colleague Elaine
M. Wallace, D.O., M.S., M.S., M.S.—
a dynamic duo that has worked
together in both Kansas City and
Fort Lauderdale. “My hope is to get
back into teaching courses in applied
therapeutics and clinical pharmacol-
ogy and to also become significantly
involved with our international med-
ical programs and global affiliations,
which is a love of mine that I started
in Kansas City and then initiated at
NSU-COM when I became dean.”
Because he’s worked closely with
Dr. Wallace for 23 years, Dr. Silvagni
has supreme confidence in her abili-
ties to lead the college as it enters an
exciting new phase of growth and
enrichment. “She knows and un-
derstands all the aspects of what is
necessary to be a dean, so it’s going
to be exciting to watch her lead the
school,” he explained. “I think she is
going to do certain things very differ-
ently than me and some things that
are quite similar. What I do know is
that she will be a tremendous asset to
the college and will, in her own way,
achieve greatness for the school.”
As he transitions from dean to in-
dustrious faculty member in the com-
ing months, Dr. Silvagni says he will
forever embrace the enduring memo-
ries that have highlighted his years
as dean of NSU-COM. “My fondest
memories are related to the people—
the many students, faculty and staff
members, and administrators who
have become very close and dear to
me,” he said. “To be honest, there are
many people here at the college that I
feel as close to as family.
“I’ve been a faculty member at 8
medical schools and been involved
with about 25 throughout my career,
so I’ve seen every kind of culture,”
he added. “That’s why when I first
came here, one of the first things
I wanted to do was make sure we
were accepting students who were
compassionate team players. My
goal was to make sure that as we
grew, we treated them with the
respect they deserved as future
health professionals. And I think
that philosophy has worked because
our interview process now allows
the applicants to spend a significant
amount of time with our students
and witness their quality and caring
nature firsthand.”
Because he is an extremely astute
administrator, Dr. Silvagni is aware
that his productive tenure as dean
did not occur in a vacuum and that
many individuals played a vital role
in crafting the successes the col-
lege achieved under his keen guid-
ance. “Serving as dean of this great
college has been a very rewarding
experience, both personally and pro-
fessionally,” he stated. “It has been
a true love affair that is not ending,
but will be continuing in a different
way. I have learned so much from
so many, with each professional
encounter adding to my experience
and expertise.
“We have made choices and taken
challenging roads together, and
thank goodness most of them have
been very successful,” he concluded.
“There’s no way you can thank
people enough for the feeling of trust
they provide you. When I come to
work, I never worry about who’s go-
ing to undermine what we do. I walk
in here with the joy of seeing people
I care about—who I know care about
me. All I can really say to everyone
is…thanks for the memories.”
“Serving as dean of this great college has been a very rewarding experience, both personally and
professionally. It has been a true love affair that is not ending, but will be continuing in a different way.”
