Salus University

Private university in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, US

Salus University is a private university in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, specializing in degree programs for the health care professions.

The university's founding college, the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO), which was founded as the Pennsylvania State College of Optometry (PSCO) in 1919, is one of the oldest optometry colleges in North America. The decision to establish the college was reached at an annual conference of the Pennsylvania Optical Society in 1918. PCO was the first school in the U. S. to confer the legislature approved Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree after its four year educational program. In 1975, PCO was the first college of optometry to develop a comprehensive, off campus externship program. Later that year, the college began construction on its main clinical facility, The Eye Institute (TEI), which opened in 1978 to serve as a training site for the school's optometry students and as a community vision care center for the public. At the time of its opening, this was the first interdisciplinary clinical facility at an optometry school centered around patient care with graduate students. By 2003, PCO had created a distance education program for licensed and practicing audiologists called AuD online and was finalizing construction of a new building to be used by students enrolled in the AuD curriculum by their commencement. The Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI), the clinical facility of the program, was opened on November 19, 2004, shortly before the school's first class of AuD students would begin their four year curriculum. As of 2017, Salus alumni comprise more than 23 percent of all audiologists in the U. S.

The campus is in Cheltenham Township, and in the Elkins Park census designated place.

The Eye Institute (TEI) was established in 1978 in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia, and in 2010 completed renovation. In addition to its main West Oak Lane clinical facility, TEI has a satellite location in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia.

Established in 2004, Pennsylvania Ear Institute (PEI) is located at the school's Elkins Park campus in Pennsylvania and serves as a clinical site for Doctor of Audiology (AuD) students enrolled in the Osborne College of Audiology (OCA).

The Speech Language Institute (SLI) is the clinical facility for students enrolled in the university's Speech Language Pathology (SLP) master's degree program. The institute opened in July 2015 at the university's main campus in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

The Occupational Therapy Institute (OTI) was opened Spring 2021 in West Oak Lane in Philadelphia, within The Eye Institute of Salus University. It is a clinical facility for students enrolled in the university's Occupational Therapy (OT) master's degree program.