264 Report from the National Institute of Chiropractic Research Meeting
Printer Friendly Email a Friend PDF RSS Feed
Dynamic Chiropractic – June 17, 2002, Vol. 20, Issue 13

Report from the National Institute of Chiropractic Research Meeting

Softec Donates $8,000 Adjusting Table for NICR Raffle

By Editorial Staff
The board of directors of the National Institute of Chiropractic Research (NICR) met January 12-13, 2002 in Phoenix, marking the organization's 15th annual meeting. The NICR, a private, nonprofit corporation, was established by Arlan Fuhr,DC, and associates in 1987 in Minnesota. Dr. Fuhr is best known for his development of the Activator adjusting instrument and related methods of clinical evaluation and treatment. In 1985, he was awarded the earliest known federal grant for chiropractic scientific research, a $50,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (small business innovative research division). He has authored or co-authored dozens of scholarly papers in the chiropractic scientific literature. As president of the NICR, he has been an active advocate for the science of chiropractic, and has several times appeared before congressional committees to petition for federal support of scientific investigations in the profession.

The NICR, to our knowledge the only continuing grant-making program for historical scholarship in the profession, has yielded such exemplary work as that of historian Brian Smith,DC.1,2 The foundation offers a $500 prize for the best student history paper presented at the Association for the History of Chiropractic's (AHCs) annual Conference on Chiropractic History. Another NICR-supported paper3 shared a prize for best paper at the AHC's recent conference at Western States Chiropractic College.

Table 1: Officers and members of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Chiropractic Research, 2002.
Arlan Fuhr, DC, President* Kenneth DeBoer, PhD*
Thomas DeVita, DC, Vice President* Jack Donovan, DC
Joseph Keating Jr., PhD, Secretary & Historian* Daniel Drubin, DC
Lois Ward, DC, Treasurer Stephen Tsai, MD
*Members of the NICR Executive Committee

The NICR grant program has awarded more than $678,000 to worthy projects to advance the knowledge base in the profession. Most of the agency's resources go toward clinical research and clinically relevant basic science investigations. The NICR relies on contributions from chiropractors and friends of the profession, and has partnership arrangements with a number of colleges, universities, chiropractic suppliers and private philanthropies.

The NICR has participated in or financially contributed to more than 100 scholarly presentations, more than 100 papers in blinded, peer-reviewed scientific and historical periodicals, and 16 book chapters and books. Several NICR-supported papers were presented at the recent joint meeting of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges and the Research Agenda Conference.

The January meeting afforded an opportunity for the foundation's grants committee to consider future philanthropy for worthy projects. One innovation was the creation of a raffle for a state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line Softec adjusting table. The table will be awarded at year's end.**

NICR Elections

Several new faces joined the NICR team of clinicians and scholars at the January meeting. Elected to three-year terms on the board were: Thomas DeVita,DC, Daniel Drubin,DC, and Stephen Tsai,MD. Dr. DeVita has many years of experience as a clinician, Activator instructor and member of the Massachusetts' Board of Chiropractic Examiners. Dr. Drubin is a chiropractor, entrepreneur and successful author. Dr. Tsai, a practitioner of traditional Chinese and allopathic medicine, brings to the NICR a wealth of practical experience in integrative approaches to health care.

Mr. Curtis Forslund, who loyally served the organization as corporate secretary since 1994, has retired; Joe Keating Jr., PhD, former NICR vice president, will fill Mr. Forslund's role.

  • Raffle tickets are available by calling the NICR office (602-224-0296) or by attending an Activator seminar.
References
  1. Smith Brian. Thomas Henry Storey,DO,DC, 1843 to 1923. Chiropractic History 1999 (Dec);19(2):63-84.
  2. Smith Brian. Carl Schultz, MD,DO,DC,LLB, 1849-1935. Chiropractic History 2001 (Dec);21(2):77-100.
  3. Keating Joseph, Siordia Lawrence. George Haynes and the quest for a higher standard. Chiropractic History, in press.

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 .

To report inappropriate ads, click here.