Ron LeFebvre, MA, DC, professor in the clinical education department at the University of Western States (UWS), has been appointed the first executive director of the Consortium of Evidence-Informed Practice Educators (CEIPE).

At UWS, Dr. LeFebvre serves as the project manager directing the creation of protocols and care pathways for the UWS clinic system as well as program coordinator for the EIP curriculum. One of his first tasks as executive director will be establishing the EIP Educator’s Exchange, a website that allows for members of CEIPE to exchange teaching tools, tips and curricular ideas. Continue reading →

​PORTLAND, Ore., October 8, 2013 – The University of Western States (UWS), a leader in the education of health care professionals, announced that Michael Haneline, DC, MPH, has joined the administration as director of the Master of Science degree program in human nutrition and functional medicine (MSHNFM). Dr. Haneline will be responsible for overseeing the program’s curriculum, development, operations, budget and personnel. Continue reading →

PORTLAND, Ore., August 6, 2013 – The University of Western States (UWS), a leader in the education of health care professionals, announced that its president, Joseph Brimhall, DC, has been elected chair of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). As chair, Dr. Brimhall will exercise the executive powers of the office, set the time and place for commission board meetings, chair the board executive committee, and preside at all NWCCU board and business meetings. His term runs through July 2016.

“We couldn’t have found a more experienced leader to guide us through the next three years as the commission continues to effectively implement its new accreditation process in the Northwest and proactively addresses the complex challenges facing regional accreditation and higher education nationwide,” said NWCCU president Sandra E. Elman, PhD.

“His unanimous election is a testament to the respect and admiration he has earned from his colleagues on the commission,” added Dr. Elman. Previously, Dr. Brimhall had served six years as an elected NWCCU commissioner, with four of those years as a member of the NWCCU executive committee.

In addition to serving on the commission, Dr. Brimhall was former chairman of the Commission on Accreditation, former president of the Council on Chiropractic Education, and past-president of the Councils on Chiropractic Education International. He is a founding director of the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine, and serves on the executive committee of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care.

About NWCCU
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) is an independent, non-profit membership organization recognized by the United States Department of Education as the regional authority on educational quality and institutional effectiveness of higher education institutions in the seven-state Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. It fulfills its mission by establishing accreditation criteria and evaluation procedures by which institutions are reviewed. The commission, which oversees regional accreditation for 160 public and private higher education institutions, consists of twenty-six commissioners who represent the public and the diversity of higher education institutions within the Northwest.

About the University of Western States
A leader in the education of health care professionals, the University of Western States (UWS) provides a science-driven curriculum that delivers a solid foundation and competitive edge in preparing students for clinical practice. UWS is a regionally accredited, non-profit institution dedicated to improving the health of society through its educational programs, research and clinical services. Founded in 1904, the university offers a doctor of chiropractic degree program; master’s degrees in exercise and sports science, human nutrition and functional medicine, and diagnostic imaging; a massage therapy certification program; and accredited continuing education programs for licensed health care professionals. UWS is a founding member of the Oregon Collaborative for Integrative Medicine, an organization that aims to advance integrative health care through education, research, patient care and advocacy.  To learn more about the University of Western States and its academic programs, go to https://www.uws.edu.

UWS investigates effective number of chiropractic treatments required to relieve pain for these headache sufferers.

The University of Western States (UWS) is pleased to join Central City Concern (CCC) in the Henry Building at 315 SW 4th Avenue as it moves its long-standing West Burnside Clinic to this new site. The UWS clinic will share ground-floor space with CCC’s Recuperative Care Program, CCC housing staff, and staff from one of CCC’s Veterans programs. This newest location of the Health Centers of UWS is expected to open by the end of July.

“Our new health center will foster the University’s mission and vision by serving the health care needs of the downtown Portland community, particularly those affected by poverty and homelessness, and by providing our students with valuable opportunities to care for people in need,” said Dr. Joseph Pfeifer, UWS Vice President of Clinics. “Our affiliation with Central City Concern in this location will enhance our ability to provide care to the clients and patients served by its programs.”

The Health Centers of UWS provide health care services to their local communities and provide clinical experience for chiropractic and massage students. UWS has been serving uninsured and underinsured patients in downtown Portland, since 1987. Approximately 4,500 no-cost or low-cost treatments are provided each year.

“Sharing a space in this downtown location will be a great opportunity for synergy between our programs and the patients we serve,” said Recuperative Care Program Manager, Nic Granum. “We look forward to a great partnership with UWS.”

The University of Western States offers a variety of academic degrees and programs in the health and human sciences that provide students with a solid foundation for careers in integrated health care, and patients with state-of-the-art, evidence-based care.

Central City Concern’s mission is to provide comprehensive solutions to ending homelessness and achieving self-sufficiency. The 33-year-old nonprofit agency reaches approximately 13,000 people yearly with affording housing, health care and employment assistance. The Recuperative Care Program provides housing and post-hospitalization care to approximately 200 homeless or very low-income individuals each year.

To learn more about Central City Concern, visit https://www.centralcityconcern.org

Appa Anderson, DC, ND, DACBR, age 88, passed away on July 15, 2012.

Dr. Anderson started as a student at Western States Chiropractic College in 1949 and also began working in the x-ray department that same year. She graduated in 1953 and became the first woman chiropractic radiologist in 1965. She retired in 1989 after 40 years of dedication to WSCC and the profession.

Alumni, staff and friends are invited to join in a celebration memorial for Dr. Anderson on October 13th, 2012 from 2-4pm on the University of Western States campus in Hampton Hall.

Please come and help us commemorate the contributions and dedication of Dr. Anderson’s life.

On July 1, 2012, Dr. Clyde B. Jensen joined the University of Western States as Vice-President of University Relations. Dr. Jensen will develop new and refine such existing University functions as fund raising, Alumni and governmental affairs, community and industry relations and collaborations with higher education and health professions organizations. Dr. Jensen, who holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and physiology will also teach Clinical Pharmacology and assist as needed with the development of additional courses and programs.

Dr. Jensen is a veteran higher education executive who is regarded for his success in transforming health sciences institutions and fostering collaboration among conventional and complementary health care professions.

He is the only person to have served as the president of colleges of allopathic, osteopathic, naturopathic and oriental medicine. For the past eight years he has served as a public member of the Council on Chiropractic Education and currently serves as a public member of the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education.

Among his accomplishments are the merger of the Oklahoma College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery with Oklahoma State University, planning and fund raising that contributed to the formation of the University of Oklahoma Campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the relocation of the National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) to its permanent campus and the formation of the American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges, and the preservation of the Sint Eustatius School of Medicine (Netherland Antilles) following the loss of student financial aid at foreign medical schools. Dr. Jensen has also served as a consultant in the natural products industry where he contributed to the organization of research, product development and university relations at Standard Process, Inc.

Dr. Jensen and his wife, Marteen, live in Happy Valley. They are the parents of three children and have eleven grandchildren.

After a car accident with her two sons brought her to realize she needed help with her life and alcoholism, Jill came to Shepherd’s door on 132nd and Halsey in October of 2011.

Through the assistance of Shepherd’s Door, Jill has been sober and upon graduation, plans to work as a medical assistant and go to school part time to get her nursing degree.

“A lot of the programs have helped me learn how to process things differently and the parenting classes have helped me realize I’m not alone,” Jill says. “There is so much support and I couldn’t have been sober still if not for Shepherds Door.”

A part of the Russell Neighborhood community since the mid-1990s and the Women and Children’s Division of the Portland Rescue Mission, Shepherd’s Door is a residential community that helps dozens of women and children each year. Though it offers educational programs, parenting classes, childcare and resources to its residents, Shepherd’s door also provides community childcare and continued support to graduates of the program.

The University of Western States, committed to improving the quality of human life, has partnered with Shepherd’s Door to donate food from the Chiro Cafe. University students have also assisted with yard work and have future plans of involvement.

“Shepherd’s Door transforms women’s lives and has changed so many people,” Jill says. “They equip people to live life and deal with life appropriately.”

To support Shepherd’s Door or get involved, they are always looking for volunteers and you can learn more at www.portlandrescuemission.org and click on Women & Children.

For the week of July 30 to August 3rd, the ASB is running a Sock Drive in collaboration with the Portland Rescue Mission and Shepherd’s Door! Bring new socks to UWS Student Services to help out!

New administrative rules concerning the role of chiropractic physicians, naturopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians, and nurse practitioners as primary care providers within coordinated care organizations will be soon addressed by the Oregon Health Authority.

This is vitally important, especially in where the profession of chiropractic is headed and the role of chiropractic physicians as primary care providers.

Chiropractic physicians (who wish to) practice at the top of their licensure in Oregon can act in the capacity of a primary care provider/physician. A coalition of health care providers (the Oregon Coordinated Care Organization) was able to get this into the proposed rules concerning coordinated care organizations, but the wording is convoluted and needs clarifying language.

The proposed rule language states under “410-141-3160 Integration and Care Coordination, (2)(a) Demonstrate that each member has a primary care provider or primary team that is responsible for coordination of care and transitions and that each member has the option to choose a primary care of any eligible CCO participating provider type.” We suggest adding clarifying language which states; “An eligible CCO provider type means a health care provider who can provide primary services which include chiropractic, naturopathic, osteopathic, or medical physician or a nurse practitioner.”

We used the term “primary care provider” instead of “primary care physician” to help out our coalition member nurse practitioners.

Your public testimony is needed to help get this vital clarifying language in the rules added.

Please email public comments to: [email protected] in favor of the clarifying language, “An eligible CCO provider type means a health care provider who can provide primary services which include chiropractic, naturopathic, osteopathic, or medical physician or a nurse practitioner.”

Public testimony ends July 22, so please send your public comments by July 21.

– Contributions to this made by Dr. Vern Saboe

Researchers from the University of Western States were given the “Best Poster” Award from the 2012 Oregon Health and Science University Pain Day at the Vey Conference Center at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital on February 28.

Sponsored by the OHSU Schools of Nursing and Dentistry, Offices of the Provost and Vice-President for Research, Knight Cancer Institute, and OCTRI, the event included workshops, poster displays and social hour.

The Best Poster Award was selected for outstanding research and compelling results, said Darcy Vavrek, ND.  The poster, “Dose-Response and Efficacy of Spinal Manipulation for Low Back Pain: Short-Term Outcomes from a Randomized Trial” was completed by Mitchell Haas, DC, MA, Darcy Vavrek, ND, MS, David Peterson, DC, (all from UWS and pictured left) and Mikel Aickin, PhD,b (from the University of Arizona.)

Dr. Vavrek and Dr. Haas also presented their poster, “A Causal Model for Expectancy Effects in an Open-Label Randomized Trial of Manual Therapy for the Care of Cervicogenic Headache” by Mitchell Haas, DC, MA, Mikel Aickin, PhD (from University of Arizona), and Darcy Vavrek, ND, MS.

Greeley, Colo. – Nicholas G. Opie, D.C., was honored recently for 10 years as a National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) Part IV test committee member. Dr. Opie represents Hawaii at annual sessions to review patient case scenarios and select case-related questions for upcoming Part IV exams.

A graduate of Western States Chiropractic College (WSCC), Dr. Opie has a long history of service to the NBCE also including service as a Part IV examiner, a voting delegate at annual business meetings, and a test committee member for the NBCE’s Part III Examination and post-licensure Ethics and Boundaries Examination. NBCE Director of Practical Testing Research and Development Dr. Paul Townsend said, “We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Opie for his dedication and commitment to this organization. NBCE’s Parts III and IV examinations focus on the practitioner’s knowledge and ability to perform in a chiropractic setting. Dr. Opie’s devotion to the profession and his experience as a practitioner make him ideally suited to serve on these test committees. We could not do our jobs without individuals, such as Dr. Opie, who are truly committed to testing excellence.”

The governor of Hawaii has appointed Dr. Opie to serve three terms on the Hawaii State Board of Chiropractic Examiners; he is currently chair of that board. In 1998 he was elected to the Distinguished Fellows of the International Chiropractors Association, an organization that he began serving while enrolled at WSCC.

Headquartered in Greeley, Colo., the NBCE is the international testing organization for the chiropractic profession. Established in 1963, the NBCE develops, administers and scores legally defensible, standardized written and practical examinations for candidates seeking chiropractic licensure throughout the United States and in many foreign countries.

Shown in the photo: Mr. Horace Elliott, Dr. Paul Townsend, Dr. Nicholas Opie, Dr. Norman Ouzts.

DR. HERBERT JAMES MORTLOCK VEAR, former Western States Chiropractic College president, and a respected leader in the chiropractic profession passed away peacefully February 2, 2012 at the age of 87 years. Dr. Vear had a long and integral role in the development of what is now the University of Western States and will be greatly missed in the health care community.

Dr. Vear led Western States Chiropractic College through one of its most difficult periods.  In July 1979, Dr. Vear was appointed President of WSCC. WSCC had just lost its accreditation by the Council on Chiropractic Education the month before, but Dr. Vear refused to accept CCE’s decision without a fight.  In late January 1981, Vear and his team of representatives appeared before the CCE Commission on Accreditation. The college had submitted the best Self-Study it had ever written and the Commission on Accreditation granted Western States Chiropractic College accredited status for a period of three years. In 1982 Dr. Vear submitted an application for regional accreditation through the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, a recognition the college received shortly thereafter and enjoys to this day.

Under Dr. Vear’s guidance, WSCC established its reputation within the profession as a leader in chiropractic academics, including research and teaching. It was under Dr. Vear that WSCC lead the 1980 formation of the Chiropractic Library Consortium and its Index to the Chiropractic Literature, an important source work for the chiropractic periodic literature.

Dr. Vear is one of the two individuals most strongly responsible for the 1984 policy revision of the American Public Health Association (APHA) toward chiropractic. In collaboration with Rand Baird, M.P.H., D.C., Dr. Vear was able to persuade the APHA to soften its stance toward chiropractic, and chiropractors were admitted as professional members. It was an important step in the legitimization of chiropractic, and in establishing working relations with a wide range of health service providers. Dr. Vear was elected to APHA’s Governing Council for 1985-86 and again during 1989-1992. He served as chairman of the APHA’s Chiropractic Forum during 1989-1991.

Dr. Vear’s positive influence on UWS and the chiropractic profession cannot be overstated. For a more-in-depth look at the life and career of Dr. Vear, please take a few minutes to read a short biography posted here .

Dr. Craig Kawaoka, the clinical director of the Master’s in Exercise and Sports Science program served as the team physician at the World Weightlifting Championship in Paris at EuroDisney.

The event, from November 5th through the 13th, was an Olympic Qualifying Event. This is Dr. Kawaoka’s second Sr. World Championships where he has served as team physician. In 2009, he served as the physician for the 2009 World Championships in Goyang, Korea.

Dr. Kawaoka said his role was primarily to treat athletes who are competing at the highest level. He tended to acute and/or chronic injuries and helped prepare athletes for competition. The United States team consisted of 14 members.