NSU’s Chief Medical Officer Shares Outlook for the Future

With a background as a physician, pediatric surgeon, and health care executive, Dr. Chad Perlyn knows the hard work and dedication needed to earn a medical degree and serve the community.

He joined Nova Southeastern University (NSU) as executive vice president and chief medical officer in December 2024, and recently was named dean of the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine. Dr. Perlyn is applying his specialized training, industry knowledge, and experience to drive the university’s health care initiatives into the future.

“How would I describe my tenure at NSU? One word – extraordinary,” said Dr. Perlyn. “It is truly an extraordinary organization, and it is driven by an incredible core of people – faculty, staff, and of course, students.”

Much of Dr. Perlyn’s attention has been focused on faculty, staff, and students connected to NSU Health.

“NSU is the preeminent doctoral private university in Florida,” he said. “Our philosophy related to our health care programs is really around the mission to integrate our strengths as a university – teaching, research, and clinical care.”

TEACHING

“My vision for NSU is to be recognized as the leader of academic health care in Florida,” said Dr. Perlyn, “and I think this is a very, very achievable goal.”

Dr. Perlyn aspires to leverage and enhance the variety and quality of NSU’s health care programs, specifically its advanced degrees, and strengthen the university’s health care reputation as a leading regional and national educator of health care professionals.

Further bolstering these efforts is the introduction of NSU’s new accelerated programs where students receive doctorate or professional degrees in as little as six years. These options can reduce the time and investment of obtaining advanced degrees while providing the exceptional education and high-quality training of NSU’s traditional academic tracks. Pilot programs for D.O. and M.D. programs start in fall 2025, with other programs to start in the coming months.

RESEARCH

Dr. Perlyn knows continued investment will be key in maintaining the university’s high-level research programs, which have earned NSU the designation as a Research 1 university.

“The R1 designation (which goes to the nation’s top-tier research institutions) is a measure of our excellence,” said Dr. Perlyn. “Not only are we delivering world-class care and teaching about that care, we are the ones to discover that care.”

Attracting support through gifts, funding, and partnerships, Dr. Perlyn will lead NSU as it strengthens its commitment to finding advancements in patient treatment and outcomes. These investments are also critical to providing NSU researchers, faculty, and students access to advanced facilities and programs that provide experiential learning opportunities not available at other universities.

CLINICAL CARE

“We have many goals for NSU Health,” he said. “They are focused around growing NSU Health into the entity that will represent all of the elements of the finest health care delivery – education, research, and most of all, clinical care.”

NSU Health’s clinical care is known for providing much-needed services to the South Florida community, among them women’s health, geriatrics, vision care, pediatrics, mental health, dental care, and pharmacy services. And now, under Dr Perlyn’s vision, NSU Health’s physical footprint will strengthen as another avenue for educating students and advancing research.

“Our goal is to teach the clinicians of the future,” he said. “We will do that by providing the best care possible, to teach the best care possible.”

FUTURE GOALS

Dr. Perlyn wants to move NSU Health and the university into a new chapter of organizational success.

“We all have one purpose,” he said, “to move this organization forward, which means moving our students forward, which means moving the community forward.”

Building on past progress and prioritizing innovation, Dr. Perlyn is excited about the future of NSU Health.

“If we are doing the best medicine, we are teaching the best medicine,” he said, “and that is taking knowledge from the classroom, to the clinic, to the community.”