William Meeker, D.C., M.P.H., president of Palmer College of Chiropractic’s San Jose campus, was recently appointed to the Board of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM), becoming the first doctor of chiropractic to earn such an appointment.
Established in 1978 as a member-organization for MDs and DOs, the AIHM expanded membership to include additional health-care disciplines in 2008, and is now “dedicated to engaging a global community of health professionals and health seekers, and is the only international membership-based organization that educates and certifies health-care professionals in integrative health and medicine.”
“Chiropractic’s involvement with multidisciplinary organizations that impact health-care policy, as the American Public Health Association, has given voice to our profession, and has been vital to many of the advancements of the past three decades,” said Dr. Meeker, who was instrumental in establishing the Chiropractic Health Care section of the APHA in 1985 (for which he was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2012).
“However, for all our advancements, chiropractic remains one of the least understood of the integrative professions now represented in this organization. I’m honored by my appointment to the Board and honored to represent the chiropractic profession. I look forward to the opportunities this appointment provides to establish greater familiarity about the chiropractic profession within the AIHM.”
Dr. Meeker is already taking steps to help achieve that goal. He has organized a special panel discussion on pain at the AIHM’s annual conference next October, which will feature Scott Haldeman, D.C., M.D., Ph.D., Davenport ’64, and Christine Goertz, D.C., Ph.D., Palmer College vice chancellor for research and health policy.
Source: Palmer News