Hear insights from leaders in the chiropractic profession from around the world. These podcasts concentrate on education and training as well as looking ahead to what the future holds for chiropractic.
Dr Chris Yelverton
The latest in our Leaders’ Interviews features Chris Yelverton, Course Leader at the University of Johannesburg, one of the only two courses in Africa. The course attracts 25 times more applicants than it has places and clinic students provide much needed care for the local population.
Chris has worked at the University for twenty years and the course recently retained ECCE accreditation largely due to his stewardship and the work of his diligent staff.
Chris is in conversation with Matthew Bennett, Director of Academic Affairs at SPCE and past President of the British Chiropractic Association. These discussions focus on the education and training of chiropractors, the challenges unique to South Africa as well as tackling wider issues relating to the profession.
In this video, Chris talks about:
- how good psychomotor skills are important as manipulation is the hallmark of chiropractic care
- how the Covid crisis has highlighted the shortfalls in ethical practise in our profession
- why future courses should be within public universities
- how to put graduates on a par with other healthcare programmes
- the challenges of ethnic diversity in a mainly non-white population
Prof Anthony Woolf
Our latest in the Leaders’ Interviews series features Professor Anthony Woolf, from the University of Exeter Medical School. He talks about how the whole MSK community must come together to get the message across that MSK problems need more attention and how the different groups can work together. He talks about
providing the right care, at the right time by the right person which includes chiropractors
how we must get away from professional protectionism and mumbo-jumbo
how the professions must train together.
He exhorts chiropractors to promote the quality of chiropractic education and training and to collaborate and integrate with mainstream health providers.
Professor Woolf was one of the authors of the Global Burden of Disease report showing that musculoskeletal disorders cause the greatest disability. As the Chairman of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, he champions the optimum model of care to improve patient outcomes. As a consultant rheumatologist, he also works at the coalface delivering care so he understands these issues well.
Prof Lesley Haig
Our latest in the Leaders’ Interviews series features Professor Lesley Haig, Vice-Chancellor of AECC University College. She talks about how chiropractic can become part of mainstream healthcare should the profession choose. She does not come from a chiropractic background so she has a clear idea about how other healthcare professionals view chiropractic. She also has inspiring thoughts about the future of chiropractic education.
Professor Haig has worked in higher education for over 20 years in a variety of roles as an academic senior manager, research, practitioner and educator. She has spent the majority of her career in musculoskeletal and sports medicine, working with elite athletes and teams nationally and internationally. She led the first MSc in Sport and Exercise Rehabilitation in the UK, which provided advanced practice education for musculoskeletal practitioners from a range of professional groups.
Dr. Mustafa Ağaoğlu
Dr. Mustafa Ağaoğlu is President of the International Federation of Sports Chiropractic (FICS) and of the Turkish Chiropractic Association which he co-founded. He helped commence the master’s in chiropractic sciences education program at the Bahçesehir University of Istanbul, Turkey in 2015.
He is a 1997 Life University graduate, he practised for one year in Lima, Peru. He then received Florida licensure and practised there until April 2004 when he moved to Izmir, Turkey where he opened up an office with his wife, a medical doctor.
In this interview, he highlights the plight of the profession in Turkey and what he is doing to achieve the right to practice. The six chiropractors in Turkey face up to two years in prison if caught practising. He also talks about…
Fighting legislation in court which proposed grouping chiropractic along with bonesetters and leech therapy
Working with government to bring in legislation and protection of title
How important support from the ECU and WFC has been
The global consensus of what chiropractic should be
Why national associations should be more proactive about standardisation
How social media divides the profession
Ian Beesley
Our latest in the Leaders’ Interviews series features Ian Beesley – past Secretary-General of the ECU.
With experience working at the heart of the British Government in Number 10 Downing Street and leading government reviews on high profile issues involving national institutions, Ian Beesley was well placed to bring a new professionalism to the European Chiropractors’ Union and an external perspective on the chiropractic profession.
He was appointed Secretary-General in 2015 and stepped down after a 5-year term at the end of November 2020. As a keen advocate of diversity and widening entry to the profession Ian has chosen the SPCE for his first public comments.
Ian’s written articles include a defence of the chiropractic oath on graduation, a 2020 survey of how European chiropractic schools have responded to the challenges of Covid, and how behavioural insights can inform practice. In January 2108 he launched the ground-breaking ECU App for smartphones and tablets. Here he is in conversation with Peter Dixon on seizing the opportunities now open to the profession.
In this lively and interesting discussion, Ian talks about
our ability to move mountains when we work together;
how impressed he is with our individual commitment to conferences and seminars;
the achievements and ambitions of the profession;
the need to look forwards to the coming challenges.
Bruce Walker
Emeritus professor at Murdoch University Australia
Catherine Quinn,
President of the British Chiropractic Association
Catherine talks about:
– the importance of developing leadership skills by involving students and graduates in political and administrative roles early in their careers
– the value of learning together with other professions as undergraduates
– the importance of community in developing a professional identity
– how we have been at a fork in the road for decades and it is time to mature and take our place in MSK healthcare and public health in general.
Vasileios Gkolfinopoulos,
President of the European Chiropractors’ Union
The latest in our Leaders’ Interviews, features Vasileios Gkolfinopoulos (Vas to his friends!), President of the European Chiropractors’ Union
He is in conversation with Dr Matthew Bennett, Director – SPCE and past President of the British Chiropractic Association. These discussions focus on the education and training of chiropractors as well as tackling wider issues relating to the profession. In this video, Vas makes a number of very insightful points, speaking about the changing education requirements and the need for courses to evolve, focussing on competencies rather than the number of taught hours. He also highlights the need to embrace technology and warns against complacency
Vas, very rightly, also highlights the need for chiropractic programmes in more countries.
An important point he makes is that we need to embrace diversity, which currently is largely absent in the student and faculty populations. We can all agree that this issue needs addressing as a matter of some urgency.
Vas warns against the dangers of isolation which could harm the profession, highlighting the need for a distinctive European voice. He backs practise, based on evidence and integrated into national health systems, ensuring it is both relevant to patient needs as well as being affordable.
Jean Moss
Our latest in the Leaders’ Interviews series features Dr Jean Moss, one the most experienced academics in the profession; she spent 45 years at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College! Jean is in conversation with Dr Peter Dixon, Director – SPCE and President Emeritus at the Royal College of Chiropractors. He is also a former President of the British Chiropractic Association.
These discussions focus on the education and training of chiropractors as well as tackling wider issues relating to the profession.
In this video, Jean Moss makes a number of very important points:
Universities need to have rigorous admissions standards, ensuring that students are capable of managing the rigours of the course;
Unsubstantiated claims, e.g., about treating Covid-19, undermine each and every chiropractor and damage the profession;
We must resolve our identity as a profession rather than just talking about it as we have been doing for the last 50 years;
We must coalesce around the evidence base; otherwise, no government, health system or the public, will find us credible;
The growth of unethical practice, driven more by financial considerations, than the demands of good patient care, are due to unrealistic expectations and fed by practice management gurus; and,
All faculty members need to be actively involved in research
Mark Langweiler,
London South Bank University
Mark is a highly experienced educator with thirty years of experience, the last fifteen in chiropractic education. In this interview, Mark talks about the exciting challenges of establishing a new chiropractic programme in a multi-ethnic city like London and integrating that programme with the other clinical disciplines taught at the University. He speaks eloquently about the privilege and responsibility of educating the next generation of chiropractors.
On the issue of what makes a good chiropractor, he emphasises the need for good, open and empathetic communication as well as a willingness to learn and be adaptable. Mark feels that education will become broader, more integrated and increasingly, evidence-based. He is enthusiastic about student placements; his view is that they benefit both students and chiropractors and that is why they have been enthusiastically embraced by local chiropractors.
Daniel Moore,
Teesside University
Dr Daniel Moore, Course Leader for the programme at Teesside University. Teesside is the newest chiropractic programme in the UK, opening its doors to students in 2020. He is in conversation with Dr Matthew Bennett, Director – SPCE and a former President of the British Chiropractic Association.
Following on from our ongoing interviews with chiropractic leaders, which last month featured Dr. Bill Morgan and Dr. Richard Brown, I am delighted to share with you the next instalment in this series. As I previously said, these discussions focus on the education and training of chiropractors as well as tackling wider issues relating to the profession.
Daniel talks about the need to define chiropractic competence and to change the disconnect between undergraduate education and clinical practise. He is an advocate of getting students out into clinics, early in their course, so as to develop professionalism and clinic experience. He also talks about improving the recognition of academia as a career for chiropractors.
Finally, he emphasises what many are saying now, i.e., the need for professional integration and learning from other professions.
Richard Brown
Secretary General of the WFC
The leader we feature in this interview is Dr Richard Brown. As Secretary-General of the World Federation of Chiropractic, he is known to chiropractors worldwide as someone who has contributed immensely to the profession and raised its profile. Richard has previously been the President of the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) and the Secretary-General of the European Chiropractors’ Union (ECU). In this interview, he gives a global perspective, setting out his vision for the future of the profession as well as sharing his thoughts on training of the next generation of chiropractors.
He is in conversation with Dr Peter Dixon, Director – SPCE and someone, who in his distinguished career, has held many key leadership roles, both in the UK and internationally, including the Presidency of the BCA, ECU and the Royal College of Chiropractors (RCC), UK; of the latter, he is now, President Emeritus.
Dr William E Morgan DC
President of Parker University
Bill shares his insights into the future of chiropractic education and what makes a good chiropractor.