Where Are They Now

Admittedly, Nathalie Miller, MSOT ’20, was “that horse kid.” From the age of 10, she was hanging around in the barn mucking stalls and cleaning water troughs just so she could get extra time with the horses and earn more riding time. That love of horses has now turned into a career. Miller now works at the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C., where she handles outpatient services for those who have suffered strokes and brain injuries. Trained to treat patients with concussions, she also works in vision therapy and does part-time hippotherapy, mainly in pediatrics, at Great and Small Ride, a nonprofit therapeutic riding program in Montgomery County, Maryland.

His job as a speech therapist is “pretty taxing,” so when Max Saeger, MS ’19, gets home from work, he likes to relax by singing. He’s been singing in school and community choirs since he was in elementary school, and would someday love to pursue more organized community-based singing. After completing both his didactic and clinical training in the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) department at Salus University, he did a nine-month clinical fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and it was there where he conducted voice therapy with his patients. Saeger became interested in becoming a speech therapist working with children in a school setting. After earning a degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Penn State, his master’s degree from Salus University and his experience here convinced him that working with adults in a medical setting was his preference.

It could be said that attaining a PhD in the Biomedicine program at Salus University is akin to climbing a mountain. For Michael Baertschi, PhD ’15, BSc, FHNW (Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, the name of the optometry college in Switzerland), MSc Optom, MMed Education, FAAO, FEAOO (Fellow of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics), that was quite literally the case. “The PhD program at Salus gave me knowledge, reputation, success, happiness and was a ‘door opener’ in many ways,” Dr. Baertschi said.

As the president of the Virginia State Board of Optometry, vice chair of the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, board member of the Newport News Arts Commission and the Virginia Optometric Association Board of Trustees as well as serving in numerous other organizations, “involved” is the perfect word to describe Lisa Wallace-Davis, OD ’92. “My biggest advice to incoming or current optometry students is to get involved,” said Dr. Wallace-Davis. “For me personally, getting involved allowed so many different opportunities to open up.”