Dr. Mark Merrick, dean of The University of Toledo College of Health and Human Services and acting dean of the College of Nursing, has been selected a fellow of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions.
Merrick was inducted during the national professional organization’s annual conference earlier this month, where he also spoke on a panel about the changing landscape of higher education and its impact on the health professions.
Dr. Mark Merrick, dean of the College of Health and Human Services and acting dean of the College of Nursing, has been selected a fellow of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions.
“Being selected a fellow is always a humbling honor because it’s a recognition by your peers of the impact you have in your field,” Merrick said. “It means the things we’re doing at Toledo across a range of health professions are garnering recognition.”
The Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions, or ASAHP, was founded in 1967 to represent educational institutions on critical issues affecting health professions education. The organization has more than 110 member institutions.
Merrick said one of the key issues the group is looking at now is ensuring students know the wide breath of options available to them in the health professions.
“Your typical 18-year-old incoming college student knows physicians, nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists. Beyond that, their familiarity is much lower,” Merrick said. “We’re all working to increase the visibility of those disciplines to help students find their way.”
That is part of the reason UToledo launched its new Health Sciences undergraduate degree last year in the College of Health and Human Services, Merrick said.
“UToledo can prepare students for a number of credentialed professions that have high demand that students, unfortunately, don’t always know about. For example, we have a fantastic respiratory therapy program,” he said. “It’s our job to help those healthcare-interested students find their right home.”
Merrick, who sits on ASHAP’s education committee, also is Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice and a fellow of the National Athletic Trainer’s Association.
