Suha Saleh is an assistant dean for academic affairs and student success, and associate professor of health sciences at the University of Central Florida. Saleh joined UCF in 2010 as the director of the Health Sciences undergraduate program, a position she held for 10 years. Through this role, Saleh established the founding operating structure for the current program, redesigned the curriculum into a contemporary academic degree for pre-health professions preparation, established the foundation for advising and student support services, and developed several student success initiatives including internships, experiential learning programs, and professional development opportunities. The impact of these initiatives resulted in significant improvement in student success metrics, and increased student demand for this major that led to increase in enrollment from 1,000 to 3,800 students. Additionally, the program’s reputation improved to becoming the most popular undergraduate major (ranked #1) at UCF in 2017-2018, and it was recognized nationally among the top Bachelor’s in Health Sciences among peer institutions (College Choice, 2021).

In 2017-2018, she served on the UCF taskforce that proposed the founding structures for UCF’s Academic Health Sciences Center and the College of Health Professions and Sciences (CHPS). Within these new structures, Saleh led the creation and served as interim chair of the newly formed Department of Health Sciences. She also led the development of the foundation for the undergraduate education and student support services operation in the new college CHPS and served as the assistant dean for undergraduate affairs in 2020.

In 2024, Saleh’s leadership portfolio expanded. In addition to undergraduate education, Saleh now leads graduate education, academic program quality that covers academic program review, programmatic accreditation, program assessment, academic policies and compliance, and space administration. Saleh’s ability to connect with stakeholders allowed for very collaborative relationships to be built with partners within the university and beyond the boundaries of the institution, which resulted in creating several student success and engagement opportunities and enabled the college to execute strategic academic priorities.

Saleh obtained her undergraduate degree in medical technology (currently known as clinical laboratory science) and her Ph.D. in physiology from Kansas State University. She completed postdoctoral training at the Neuroscience Department at Georgetown University Medical Center. Saleh also completed several academic leadership trainings, including programs at Harvard University and UCF. Her research focuses on college student success, health education and eye disorders and diabetes.