NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Spring 2019

44 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE As we enter a significant era of change in health care education, Nova Southeastern University’s Health Professions Division (HPD) serves as a sentinel for the academic health care commu- nity when it comes to modeling the evolving paradigm of health care training. Since the inception of Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1979, the late Morton Terry, D.O.—the founder of the HPD—frequently explained that health care had to be a collaborative, interdisciplinary endeavor. It is a precept we continually incorporate in our classrooms, through our curri- culum, and in our academic infrastructure. Because of decisions made decades ago, dramatic shortages in specific health care professions—such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists—are occurring throughout the United States. To offset these shortages, what used to be known as the allied health profession has evolved into individualized professions, such as occupational therapy, physician assistant, and physical therapy. Florida, which is a retirement destination for many senior citizens, has the highest percentage of people older than 70 of any state in our country. As health care has evolved, seniors are no longer placed into long-term assisted living facilities or nursing homes after they suffer broken hips or other catastrophic falls, which was often the case in the past. Instead, they are cared for and holistically rehabilitated by an interpro- fessional team of health care experts. They become whole and vital again in their home-care environment. I truly believe Dr. Terry had this interdisciplinary approach in mind when he created Southeastern University of the Health Sciences in the 1980s. He saw his ideas as a harbinger of what could help people live an additional decade or so. This is what I consider as the hallmark of the Health Professions Division. People want good health, and the best way to achieve it is by receiving interprofessional, collaborative care from a dedicated team of health care professionals. NSU’s Health Professions Division is doing an extraordinarily fine job of teaching its students to do just that. Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D. Chancellor, Special Projects Health Professions Division MESSAGE from the Chancellor