July 2004

Hudec becomes first DC to graduate from military residency program

For the first time in history, a doctor of chiropractic has graduated from a military hospital residency program. –

Joanna Hudec, DC, completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, Md., and graduated on June 18, 2004. Hudec’s history-making graduation is seen by many as one of the clearest signs to date that the chiropractic profession works well with the medical community.

Known as “the President’s hospital” because it is the site at which sitting U.S. presidents and other dignitaries receive care, NNMC is considered the “flagship of naval medicine.” The hospital also is the National Capital Region Resource for homeland defense.

“For chiropractic care to be integrated into a program within the most hallowed halls of medicine is an unparalleled step for this profession,” said American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Donald J. Krippendorf, DC. “The ACA sincerely thanks Dr. Hudec for the shining example she has set for chiropractic.”

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, attending the graduation ceremony -- which included about 355 medical interns, residents and fellows, congratulated Hudec for her efforts and thanked NNMC attending physician William Morgan, DC, for the time he spent as the program director of this residency.

Additionally, the commanding officers of both NNMC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center thanked Hudec for her work. At a dinner following the ceremony, Texas Chiropractic College (TCC) President Richard Brassard, DC, presented Hudec with a diploma certifying her completion of TCC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Integrative Medicine.

Recognizing the need for doctors of chiropractic to be trained to work in an integrative hospital environment, TCC Director of Research James Giordano, PhD, and Morgan envisioned and then implemented the fellowship program, which is expected to become an ongoing, annual program.

During her fellowship program, Dr. Hudec established a chiropractic clinic for the medical students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), also located in Bethesda, Md. That clinic is believed to be the only chiropractic clinic ever established within a medical school.

A major goal of the military hospital chiropractic fellowship program is to provide a qualified pool of doctors of chiropractic to serve the needs of civilian, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and Department of Defense (DoD) hospital-based chiropractic clinics.

Source: American Chiropractic Association, www.amerchiro.org

Industry News from:
Chiropractic News from: