The meeting will feature leading international authorities on philosophy in chiropractic and on health care in general. It will be open to chiropractic college representatives and individual DCs. The program directors are Dr. David Koch, president of Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, and Dr. Reed Phillips, president of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic.
"The original goal of the meeting," said Dr. Koch, "was to review how philosophy is understood and taught in different chiropractic educational programs in the U.S. and around the world, and then come up with some common principles and recommendations for the future. This conference is crucial for the profession. As educational programs develop in new countries, there is a risk of chiropractic history and philosophy being lost."
Dr. Reed Phillips agrees, adding that the program has now been opened to all chiropractors because there has been such interest and because many world experts have agreed to speak.
Full details of the program and registration information will be given in January, but here are the basic components:
• Saturday and Sunday sessions will feature the main lectures and debates and will be open to all chiropractors. College representatives will meet Monday to hammer out policies and recommendations.
• Opening addresses on Saturday will be on the role of philosophy in science and the healing arts by Kenneth Schaffner,MD,PhD, professor of Medical Humanities, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and on the role of philosophy in complementary health care by Ian Coulter,PhD, professor, UCLA and LACC.
• Speaking on the history of philosophy in chiropractic and to what degree vitalism, holism, homeostasis and the regulatory role of the nervous system are unique to chiropractic will be: Thom Gelardi,DC, past president, Sherman College; Joe Keating, PhD, historian; Howard Vernon,DC,FCCS from CMCC; and George Lewith,MD, from the Centre for Complementary Medicine, University of Southampton, England.
• There will be papers on: the philosophical basis of condition-centered practice (Marion McGregor,DC); vertical subluxation-centered practice (David Koch,DC); patient-centered practice (Meridel Gatterman,DC); and what to do when there is a philosophical conflict between the chiropractor and the patient (Jennifer Jamison,MD,PhD).
• UCLA professor Michael Goldstein, PhD, will speak to whether belief is significant in health care and in chiropractic practice.
• The rest of Saturday will involve panel and audience discussions.
• Sunday morning will feature short presentations from presidents and other leaders from many chiropractic colleges in North America, Europe, Australasia, Africa and Latin America describing their views of philosophy and how it is taught in the curriculum today.
• This will lead to further audience discussion, presentations from field practitioners and then a keynote address: Does the Chiropractic Profession Need a Common Conceptual Framework? by Wayne Jonas,MD, director, Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institute of Health, 1995-1998.
"The chiropractic profession has never had a philosophy program of such breadth and depth," observed Dr. Reed Phillips, president of the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Dr. David Koch, president, Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic, concurred with Dr. Phillip's assessment.
Papers by all speakers will appear in a conference proceedings document that will be given to each registrant.
Those interested in receiving more information about the program should send their names and addresses to:
Philosophy in Chiropractic Education Conference
World Federation of Chiropractic
3080 Yonge Street, Suite 5065
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4N 3N1
| Tel: | (416) 484-9978 |
Fax: (416) 484-9665 E-mail:
Dynamic Chiropractic editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email
.