Longtime PCO/Salus Professor Dr. Satya Verma to Retire
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Longtime PCO/Salus Professor Dr. Satya Verma to Retire
Satya Verma, OD ‘75, FAAO, DPNAP, Diplomate, who completed his 50th year of working at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University in June 2021, will retire at the end of the year.
Dr. Verma started the first low vision service at PCO’s clinical facility – The Eye Institute — and wrote the first lab manual for low vision. He was the clinical supervisor for the Philadelphia Interdisciplinary Health and Education Program, Contact Lens and Low Vision service, and has been part of the Externship Program for second-year students. He started the Community Eye Care Service program, a clinical experience for students that provided eye care to the homebound elderly population in Philadelphia, the first of its kind. He also developed and has taught an elective course in geriatric optometry for PCO/Salus students. Dr. Verma started the first External Residency Program and developed up to 10 residency programs.
The accolades have also stacked up during Dr. Verma’s career. He was selected as a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging and for a Primary Care Health Policy Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one of only four optometrists in Pennsylvania ever selected for the honor. And, he’s the only optometrist in Pennsylvania who was honored twice by the Chester Delaware County Optometric Association going on to receive the American Optometric Association’s “Optometrist of the Year” award.
In 2019, Dr. Verma received the Nicholas A. Cummings Award from the National Academies of Practice. He received the Presidential Medal of Honor from PCO/Salus during its Centennial Celebration and was a 2020 inductee into the National Optometric Hall of Fame.
