Dr. Amanda Armington is an adjunct instructor for the college of chiropractic. She is currently in private practice in Bend, Oregon. She is always open to having students shadow if you find yourself in central Oregon. Her chiropractic interests include prenatal care, family practice and nutrition. Dr. Armington earned her doctor of chiropractic degree from UWS (WSCC) in 2006. Outside of full time practice and remote chiropractic education, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, enjoying exploring life in the high desert in Bend!

Breegan Arnett is an admissions advisor at UWS. Breegan is originally from Vancouver, WA. She attended college in Idaho, graduate school in Ohio and has permanently relocated back to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. While living in the Midwest, Breegan enjoyed exploring the East Coast and southern states with her husband. Breegan holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in music and is a professional freelance saxophonist in the Portland area. In her free time, Breegan enjoys being outside, specifically in the Columbia River Gorge and on the Oregon coast, cooking, baking and playing board games with her family.

Dr Laura Baffes is an associate professor & has been teaching at UWS since 1994.  She is a certified chiropractic sports physician (CCSP) and has additional training and teaches courses in neurology, orthopedics, pediatrics & internal disorders. Dr Baffes has written a CSPE care pathway on the treatment of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome and has been…

Lara Baker is (almost) a native Oregonian. Born in New Mexico, she moved to Oregon with her family at age one. Lara was raised on the South coast but has been in the Portland Metro area for more than 20 years. A professional stage and screen actor for more than 15 years, Lara joined UWS…

Christin Bankhead is the executive manager for clinical internship, assisting Dr. Ewald and responsible for monitoring, managing, and facilitating interns’ progress through the clinical internship of the UWS doctor of chiropractic program. She enjoys working in the clinic atmosphere and helping students throughout their time in the clinical internship. Christin’s previous experience includes event coordination and…

Dr. Bates is a higher education administrator with a deep background in educational best practices for quality teaching and learning experiences in collegiate courses. She earned her PhD in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy from Michigan State University. She also holds an MA in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech and a BA from The College of William & Mary in psychology. Prior to arriving at UWS, Dr. Bates served as the Dean of the College of Education at Concordia University, with previous experience as Associate Dean and Assistant Dean for the COE. Dr. Bates has also served as Associate Professor and the Director of the online Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Willamette University and as an assistant professor at the University of Utah. Her primary scholarly agenda includes work in mentoring and supervision of clinical experiences, including a recently published co-authored book – “Agency in Supervision and Mentoring: Reinvigorating the Practice” (2019). Dr. Bates is driven by her commitment to high quality, intellectual professional experiences for educators at all levels (PK-20), empowering them in their roles as educated professionals who are able to provide quality learning experiences for students.

Dr. Jaci Bergstrom is a chiropractic physician at the University of Western States Health Center. Dr. Bergstrom started at the clinic in 2018. She decided to shift her focus from private practice to the instructional side of chiropractic. Dr. Bergstrom feels this has been a great transition that has allowed her to incorporate her passion for chiropractic into the lives of the students as they pursue their dreams of providing care to their future patients. Dr. Bergstrom graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minn. in 2001. From there she has worked as an associate for much of her career. She was also owner of a practice in Fargo, ND for five years prior to moving to the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Bergstrom received her Master of Arts in Management from St. Scholastica University in Duluth, Minn. in 2004. Throughout the course of practice, Dr. Bergstrom has truly enjoyed providing patient care and education on chiropractic, exercise, posture awareness and healthy habits. In her free time, Dr. Bergstrom enjoy spending time with her husband and three-year-old son. She also tries to spend time being outdoors, exercising, cooking and traveling.

Dr. Maryrose Blank is a sport and performance psychology consultant with over 15 years of experience incorporating mental skills training with various populations to include the military, athletes and coaches at every level, and other high performing organizations.  Dr. Blank began her career in college athletics, working at several colleges and universities to include Stony Brook University, Western Carolina University and SUNY Geneseo College. Over the past 10 years, the majority of her efforts are supporting the military to design and implement performance psychology training programs. Specifically, Dr. Blank’s clients have ranged from the 18th Airborne Corp to the Special Operations community both at Fort Bragg, NC and the within the National Capitol Region.  She is the founder of Tier-1 Mindset, LLC where she partners with a multi-disciplinary team to effectively integrate mental skills, fitness and nutrition into programs designed to assist individuals in maintaining sustainable, peak performance.  Dr. Blank is a certified mental performance coach (CMPC) with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). Her passion is training individuals to reach health and performance goals through systematic mental skills training, using data analytics, biofeedback and cognitive behavioral therapy methodologies.  Her hobbies include mountain biking, ultra-racing and spending time with her dog. She is an Upstate NY native and an avid Buffalo Bills fan. She currently resides in Northern Virginia.   

Jenna Bobbins is an admissions program coordinator for UWS. She is originally from Southern California where she attended San Diego State and was a student ambassador for the university. She moved to Portland in 2015 and has loved it here ever since.

Monde Bongo has a background in complementary and alternative medicine, public health, and human nutrition, based on a wealth of education and experiences from Zambia (Africa), India, and the USA. She has facilitated courses in Whole Food Nutrition and Supplementation, Plant-Based Nutrition, and Botanical Medicine at University of Western States since 2018.

Dr. Borman earned his doctorate in anatomy and cell biology from the Medical College of Wisconsin and then began his career at UWS in 1994 as a faculty member in the department of basic sciences. As a result of his graduate research, Dr. Borman was awarded both the prestigious Jan Langman award and the Outstanding Dissertation award in two separate annual conferences of the American Association of Anatomists. For several years Dr. Borman served as professor and chair of the basic sciences department and taught courses in gross anatomy, cell biology, histology and human development. During that time he also held executive leadership positions in the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Association. In 2013, Dr. Borman accepted the appointment as dean of the college of chiropractic. In this capacity he worked collaboratively with faculty and administration to optimize the doctor of chiropractic program (DCP) curriculum and clinical experience. The UWS DCP is highly regarded for the depth and breadth of its curriculum and for the evidence-informed approach to chiropractic education. Late in 2017 Dr. Borman returned to the faculty in the department of basic sciences. He is currently course director for both spinal anatomy and head and neck gross anatomy and also assists in teaching the dissection labs for each of the three gross anatomy courses. If you ask him he’ll admit working with students in the anatomy lab is still, by far, his favorite part of his job. Dr. Borman has been an active participant in programmatic accreditation with the Council on Chiropractic Education since 2001. In this capacity he routinely participates in, or chairs, site teams as they visit the various DC programs around the country as part of the process of reaffirmation of accreditation. Since 2007, Dr. Borman has done similar work for the regional accreditation body, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. In his spare time, Dr. Borman is most likely to be found working on a “do it yourself” project around the home. Whether it’s a project inside the house or out in the yard, he’s always up for the challenge and gratification of taking on a new remodeling project.

Ami Brimhall is the wife of Dr. Joseph Brimhall, UWS president. She is one of the founding facilitators of the Art of Mindful Practice series, the Mind-Body Medicine elective for students, and the weekly Mindfulness Based Meditation meetings for students, staff, and faculty. As a student of meditation and yoga for many years, Ami is always in search of ways to promote activities that diminish negative stress and increase awareness, positive connections and emotions. When not with her sweet husband she can usually be found swimming, practicing yoga or painting in her very messy studio.

Joseph Brimhall, DC, has been president of University of Western States since 2003. He is a licensed chiropractic physician with over 22 years of clinical experience prior to becoming president of UWS, and was twice named Utah Chiropractic Physician of the Year. Dr. Brimhall has served on accrediting commissions and organizations at the programmatic, institutional, regional and international levels since 1998. He is the immediate past-chair of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) regional accrediting agency, a position he held from 2013 through 2019. Dr. Brimhall is also former president of the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), past-president of the Councils on Chiropractic Education International (CCEI), former commissioner and director for the Council on Chiropractic Education Canada (CCEC), founding director and past chair of the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine (OCIM), and former executive committee member of the Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health (ACIH). He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and a member of the executive committee of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges & Universities.

Jill relies on her experience as a former teacher to educate and empower individuals and groups to develop an understanding of their health history in order to draw connections and inspire intentional outcomes for health and wellness. She joined the faculty at UWS in 2021 to design and teach Culinary Strategies for Vibrant Meals for the doctor of clinical nutrition program. Jill holds a BS in education from Texas Woman’s University, an MS in nutrition science from Meredith College, and is completing a doctoral program in clinical nutrition. She is an Integrative and Functional Nutrition Certified Practitioner (IFNCP) and an IFN Academy and a Certified Leap Therapist (CLT) for food sensitivities and intolerances. Jill’s previous nutrition experience includes serving as director of nutrition education for a Feeding America food bank, providing nutrition education to communities at risk of hunger throughout North Carolina. She also worked with the Diabetes Self-Management Program (DSME) and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) through the Department of Health and Human Services, and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of both Duke Hospital and UNC Hospital. She continues to practice as a clinical dietitian at Duke Integrative Medicine, in private practice at Kaizen Nutrition and Wellness, and providing free integrative nutrition consultations to low income at risk of hunger, through her non-profit Grub Love. Outside of work, she and her husband Michael enjoy the mountains and beach of North Carolina, are avid readers, and enjoy playing board games and watching UNC Tarheel sports with their two grown children.

Dr. Kate Brown is an assistant professor in the department of clinical education. She originally came to Oregon to attend Lewis and Clark College for her bachelor’s degree and then went on to obtain her doctor of chiropractic degree from University of Western States. Dr. Brown teaches courses in subjects including evidence-informed practice, physical diagnosis…

Dr. Chris Browne earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Truman State University. He then attended Logan University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in human biology, continuing on to complete his doctor of chiropractic degree at University of Western States (UWS). Dr. Browne returned to UWS to earn his Master of Science in human nutrition and functional medicine, graduating with the first cohort in the program while maintaining a full-time clinical practice focusing on neuromusculoskeletal care and nutritional management of chronic disease. After co-developing and teaching post-graduate courses in manual therapy and chiropractic adjustive technique, Dr. Browne became a professor at National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) where he taught physical medicine, orthopedics and clinical nutrition to senior naturopathic doctorate students and supervised interns delivering patient care. During this time, he began teaching in the UWS MS in human nutrition and functional medicine program. Dr. Browne serves as director of the human nutrition and functional medicine programs, while continuing to teach. His other professional activities have included textbook reviewing, teaching in the NUNM Grand Rounds series, lecturing for the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine (OCIM) and presenting to various health care practitioner associations.

Courses Taught

• MS-HNFM Capstone Course

Dr. Pat Browne has worked in higher education administration for more than 34 years. His primary assignments have been in enrollment management, serving in both undergraduate and professional education settings. Dr. Browne joined UWS in 2008 as vice president for enrollment services and is now assisting the president’s office in fundraising and special projects.

Dr. Buchberger received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the National College of Chiropractic (NCC) in 1988, a Masters Degree in Physical Therapy from SUNY Upstate Medical University in 2006 and also earned the certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) credential through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) the same year. He is a former associate professor at New York Chiropractic College, a Diplomate and three-time past-president of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians. Dr. Buchberger currently serves as an official chiropractic consultant for the Auburn Doubleday’s (Single-A affiliate Washington Nationals) and Syracuse University Athletics. He is the strength and conditioning coordinator for the Auburn YMCA Stingrays swim program and current president and CEO of Active Physical Therapy Solutions PC, in Auburn, NY. The American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians named Dr. Buchberger 2009 Sports Chiropractor of the Year.

Laura Burbano-Bayuelo is an admissions advisor at UWS. Originally from Bogota D.C., Colombia, Laura moved to Oregon for College at the University of Oregon where she graduated with a Masters of Arts in International Studies. Laura is currently a doctoral student in Educational Leadership at Portland State University. She enjoys learning languages and is fluent in Spanish. She also enjoys hiking and baking whenever possible. Growing up near the Andes, Laura has a great appreciation for nature and is thrilled for the opportunity to work and live in Portland, the city of bridges!

Dr. Burnham teaches in the basic science department at UWS. She earned her PhD in molecular microbiology in 1998 and completed a post doctoral fellowship at the Ohio State University in 2002. She joined the faculty of UWS in 2005. Dr. Burnham teaches immunology, microbiology and public health. When not at UWS Dr. Burnham can be found hanging out with her partner Erin and their two children, Addie and Zach.

Kathleen Cannon is the director of human resources. Kathleen joined UWS in 2013 coming from a start up into the academic world. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Portland State University and more than 15 years of human resources experience. Kathleen enjoys spending time with family and friends and being outdoors as…