Where Are They Now?

ATLANTA, GEORGIA Nwamaka Ngoddy, OD ’12

After graduating from PCO/Salus and completing an Ocular Disease residency, Dr. Ngoddy began her practice EyeServe in a retail setting. It was there that she tried on frames and discovered that she couldn’t find any that fit quite right. She consulted with opticians to see if there were any major “pain points” they noted when fitting. What Dr. Ngoddy identified was that quite a few African-American patients had issues with the temple length of the frames being too short; that the bridge sizes were ill-fitting; and that the lens sizes were too small, not wide enough to fit across the entire face. With that information, she decided it was time to develop and create frames with those three features in mind. And, Anwuli Eyewear was born. READ

Where Are They Now?

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Michael Santucci, AuD ’09

Dr. Santucci’s company, Sensaphonics, was established in 1985, and offers state-of-the-art, personalized and custom-fitted in-ear monitors (IEMs) and musician earplugs for some of the biggest names in the musical industry, as well as for astronauts and construction workers. He was also recently named the 2023 Samuel F. Lybarger Industry Award recipient by the American Academy of Audiology. The award is given to an individual who has made important contributions to research, engineering or other technical achievements within the field of audiology.

READ MORE AT SALUS.EDU/MICHAELSANTUCCIHONORED

BERWYN, PENNSYLVANIA Grace Gawron, MS ’18

Gawron currently works at Timothy School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, a private school for students from kindergarten to age 21 with an autism diagnosis. She has a wide range of students who are considered to have complex communication needs. She is currently supervising her second graduate student — the first one was from Salus and the current one is from La Salle University — and she’d like to do more of that in the future. “I really enjoy sharing my experience with someone who is new,” said Gawron. “It’s fun to have the tables turned, to think back to what my experience was as a grad student and to share my passion for our profession.”

READ MORE AT SALUS.EDU/WATNGRACEGAWRON

TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY Alta Fried, MSOT ’14

After graduating from Salus University, Fried pursued a certification in hand therapy, which she uses in her current role as director of hand therapy at Atlantic Physical Therapy (APT). At APT, Fried started a hand-specific program around five years ago and has since expanded to five hand therapy clinics. She also co-founded an upper extremity amputation-specific clinic. She continues to give back to Salus as a current adjunct lab assistant for the OT program.

READ MORE AT SALUS.EDU/WATN-ALTA-FRIED