It is with mixed emotions that I share that two faculty members within the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance (HSHP), Dr. Susan Salahshor and Dr. Sanghee Moon, will be departing Ithaca College at the end of the fall semester for personal and professional reasons. They have both contributed immensely to their respective disciplines – Dr. Salahshor within Physician Assistant Studies and Dr. Moon within Physical Therapy – and to Ithaca College.
Susan Salahshor, PhD, PA-C, DFAAPA
Dr. Salahshor joined Ithaca College in November 2019 as the founding Program Director of Physician Assistant Studies and successfully guided the development of all aspects of the new graduate degree program. This included hiring expert faculty and staff; curating the didactic and clinical year curriculum; designing and implementing the admissions process; establishing community connections; navigating the college through the ARC-PA accreditation process, and so much more. Dr. Salahshor and her team just completed the interview process for the next cohort of 50 learners, successfully supporting the college to full implementation of the program.
Her contributions and accomplishments during her time at Ithaca College are numerous:
- She assisted in attracting the $1 million gift for the endowed Thaler Scholarship to support learners pursuing the physician assistant studies degree.
- In 2021, the first cohort of learners won first place in the Project Access Student-Led Competition, an outreach recruitment program that aims to encourage high school students from underrepresented minoritized groups to consider the PA profession as a career.
- Her passion for leadership development, advocacy, and community engagement earned national recognition as a Community Advocacy Award Winner by the POCN, the largest nurse practitioner and physician associate network in the U.S.
- She was selected to serve as an ARC-PA Commissioner and is currently Vice-Chair of the Commission.
- She was instrumental in establishing the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) committee that is run by the PA learners and exists as a space for learners to educate each other outside of the classroom. They have addressed a range of topics, including implicit bias, the harm of microaggressions, the accessibility of care, and more.
- She mentored many of her learners regarding advocacy, including Nour Safa, who established the Muslim Association of PAs, an organization created to connect, support, and advocate for Muslim PAs and PA students.
I am pleased to announce that Melissa Murfin, Associate Professor will be serving as the Interim Program Director while we conduct a national search for the next director.
Please join us in wishing Dr. Salahshor farewell on Friday, December 15 from 3:30 – 5:00 pm in CHS 212.
Sanghee Moon, PT, PhD
Dr. Moon is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and joined Ithaca College in 2020. Dr. Moon teaches Neuroscience, Pathology, Evidence-Based Practice I, Human Anatomy Lab, and is a mentor in Case Report I & II. His educational background and experience include multiple disciplines such as physical therapy, neuroscience, biology, and computer science. His interdisciplinary research interests have involved virtual reality, machine learning, inflammation biomarkers, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders.
Several highlights of his contributions while at Ithaca College:
- Served as the Vice Chair of Parkinsonism and Related Movement Disorders Task Force Team in the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine since 2020
- Review editor of several peer reviewed journals
- Completed 10 peer reviewed publications and 2 peer reviewed conference presentations
- Served on searches, department committees, and the college Institutional Review Board
Dr. Moon shared that he has immensely valued his time within the collegial Physical Therapy department and the supportive environment of the institution.
Well wishes to both of these tremendously talented faculty members and we thank them for their contributions to HSHP and Ithaca College.
Christina Moylan, Interim Dean
School of Health Sciences and Human Performance