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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Celebrating One Man’s Lofty Vision That Came to Fruition
The Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Anniversary Highlights Physician Assistant–Fort Lauderdale
The physician assistant class of 1995. The students began training in 1993, making this the first class to receive an education in the then College of Allied Health 25 years ago.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the college’s Physician Assistant (PA) Department. Its origin is very interesting and involved much dedication and hard work on the part of a small group of founders. These efforts were fueled by the vision of a special man, Late Morton Terry, D.O., M.Sc., FACOI—an internist who saw a tremendous need for primary care physicians throughout Florida.
There were a vast number of areas, often rural, where health care was limited. In addition, there was an increasing elderly population that was medically underserved. To address this need, Terry founded Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine (now known as the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine) in 1979, in North Miami Beach, Florida.
He then established Southeastern College of Pharmacy and Southeastern College of Optometry, because he recognized a paucity of educational opportunities for these specialties in Florida as well. The three combined colleges became known as Southeastern University of the Health Sciences. He received much assistance from Frederick Lippman, R.Ph., Ed.D., current chancellor of the NSU Health Professions Division, who served in the Florida Legislature for many years and shared a passion with Terry for promoting access to health care in Florida.
The two men were faced with a health care crisis. There was a sharp decrease in governmental funding for primary care residencies, which caused a huge shortage of physicians in Florida. At the same time, the state’s population was rapidly growing and health care demands were increasing.
You may read more of the PA’s vision in the 2018 Perspectives Summer/Fall issue on page 46 and 47 by visiting healthsciences.nova.edu/studentaffairs/messenger.html.
Class of 2015 student Haley Lowe educates a Panera Bread patron about the PA profession while performing a blood pressure screening.