Student Receives Inaugural Salus University Scholarship

James Deom, Salus University Class of 2014, is the recipient of the University’s inaugural John Whitener Family Scholarship, to be awarded annually to an outstanding optometry student or optometrist who is completing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Elkins Park-based University.

The $2,000 scholarship was established by former adjunct faculty member and member of the advisory board that created the MPH program at Salus, John C. Whitener, OD, MPH, in memory of his parents.

As national president of the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA), Deom helped to develop a Memorandum of Understanding with Salus to provide 20 MPH scholarships worth $10,000 each to eligible AOSA member students enrolled in any optometric school in  the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The scholarships were created to help bridge the public health gap within  optometry and to advance Salus University’s mission to protect and enhance health and well-being through education, research, patient care and community service worldwide.