About the Columnist

Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, is vice chancellor of research and health policy at Palmer College of Chiropractic. She received her DC degree from Northwestern Health Sciences University and her PhD in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Goertz came to Palmer in January 2007 with more than 15 years of experience as a scientist and in science administration. She has extensive experience in the administration of federal grants, as a PI and as a NIH program official. Prior to joining the PCCR, she spent four years as an independent scientist and in research administration positions of increasing responsibility at the Samueli Institute.

Before joining the institute, she was a program officer at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), managing a $50 million portfolio focused on musculoskeletal disease, pain, and health services research.

Prior to the NIH, she was vice president of research and policy at the American Chiropractic Association and an NIH-funded post-doctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests have focused on CAM treatments for cardiovascular disease and acute pain syndromes.

Dr Goertz currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, is a member of the American Medical Association PCPI Measures Advisory Committee, and chairs the American Chiropractic Association Performance Measurement Task Force. She is a senior scientific advisor to the ACA.

Dr Goertz formerly served on the American Public Health Association (APHA) Action Board; as president of the Bethesda Chapter Board of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), and as chair of both the Chiropractic Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA); and the Minnesota Chiropractic Association's Legislative and National Health Policy Committees.