About the Columnist

J. Michael Menke, DC, PhD, earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology (summa cum laude) and a Master of Arts in Applied Behavioral Science from Wright State University. He received his DC from Palmer College of Chiropractic-West, and another MA from the University of Arizona and PhD major in Program Evaluation and Research Methodology, with a PhD minor in Pharmaceutical Economics, Policy, and Outcomes Research.

Before returning to his research career, Dr. Menke practiced chiropractic for 12 years in Los Altos, Calif., while collaborating with Stanford University's Orthopedic Spine Department, El Camino Hospital, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and Camino Medical Group. In 2000, Dr. Menke was appointed to the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona by Dr. Andrew Weil. He also served as a technical consultant for the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Menke taught statistical and research methods at the University of Cincinnati, Ford Motor Company Quality Improvement Program, Wright State University, Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, Palmer West, and the University of Arizona. He developed a two-part curriculum on "Chiropractic in Integrative Medicine" for the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine Select newsletter.

Dr. Menke has served as an adjunct assistant professor for integrative medicine at National University of Health Sciences, research faculty for the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, a post-doctoral research fellow in Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, a member of the Stanford University Spinal Research Group, and post-doctoral fellow at the Critical Path Institute in patient reported outcome and disease biomarkers for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

His research interests include health services research, medical decision-making, validating health care measurement, meta-analysis, epidemiological methods, comparative psychology, and Bayesian inference

Dr. Menke is a member of the Institute for Evidence-Base Chiropractic and medical evidence and health services consultant with Total Innovation Group, Inc. of Tampa, Fla.

In 2012, Dr. Menke was appointed professor on the faculty of Medicine and Health at the International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and research associate for The University of Arizona. He can be reached at or .