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January 2010
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A healthy approach to chiropractic education
Since Parker College of Chiropractic appointed Fabrizio Mancini, DC, president, Parker has emerged as one of the more financially sound chiropractic colleges in the country, with Dr. Mancini gaining acclaim as a leading educator and proponent of chiropractic worldwide.
By Stanford Erickson
When Parker College of Chiropractic appointed Fabrizio Mancini president at age 33, one of the youngest presidents of any higher learning institution in the country ever, his first act was to survey fellow Parker alumni.
“How could your education at Parker have been better,” he asked. The answers generally fell into three categories:
• The science of chiropractic was overemphasized and needs to be better integrated into the philosophy of chiropractic — it was the philosophy that first attracted the student to be a chiropractor;
• Parker needs increased practical business education and training; and
• More hands-on clinical experience to better prepare the student for the real world of chiropractic.
During the last 10 years, Dr. Mancini, staff, and faculty have collected student and alumni input and used it to re-engineer the academic curriculum and training to thoroughly integrate it into the Parker education.
In the last decade, Dallas-based Parker has emerged as one of the more renowned chiropractic education institutions in the country; even though it first opened its doors in 1982 — some 85 years after Dr. B.J. Palmer established the first chiropractic educational institution in Davenport, Iowa.
Parker also has emerged as one of the more financially sound chiropractic colleges in the country, with Dr. Mancini gaining acclaim as a leading educator and proponent of chiropractic worldwide.
The world needs love
The first thing you notice about Dr. Fabrizio “Fab” Mancini — “Fab” is short for “fabulous” as his admirers are quick to point out — is his smile. It is ear to ear and joyous. The second thing is the hug. He wraps his arms around you with real affection before saying, “I love you.”
This infectious quality personifies the philosophy of chiropractic first established by the college’s founder, Dr. James “Dr. Jim” Parker, and most effectively integrated into Parker’s educational program by Dr. Mancini.
“Parker College is a leading advocate of chiropractic wellness — a set of values and behaviors that promote physical, mental, and spiritual well-being that enhance the length and quality of life,” says Dr. Mancini.
“Scan the shelves at any pharmacy and you’re likely to find hundreds of pills promising to cure your sickness. Then look at the state of health in the United States and you’ll see that those pills aren’t making anyone well. People are taking more medication today than at any other time in history, but ironically are the unhealthiest they’ve ever been. The truth is that health doesn’t come with a prescription.
“The body is designed to be self-healing and health-regulating on all three levels — body, mind, and soul,” continues Dr. Mancini. “At Parker, we teach that the body is controlled by a master system — the nervous system. Everyday wear-and-tear on your body can create slight misalignments in your spine. Since the spine affects nerves in all parts of the body, adjusting to ‘unlock’ misplaced vertebrae usually restores normal flow of nerve energy and assists the body back into its normal healthy state.”
But, as Dr. Mancini never tires of explaining to new students when discussing the mission of Parker, a healthy nervous system is just one piece of the puzzle. Proper nutrition and plenty of exercise not only fuel the body, but tend to balance emotional moods. Just as important, however, is nourishment of the spirit.
“Spiritual wellness is a search for meaning and purpose in life that gives a sense of direction, awareness, and peace. With peace, you are not living in guilt about the past or the fear of the future; you are living right now in gratitude of the moment. Ultimately, unconditional love of self and others facilitates this,” says Dr. Mancini.
How does this all translate to chiropractic wellness? Dr. Mancini flashes his engaging smile. “One of several key principles Dr. Parker taught and lived by was ‘Loving service is my first technique.’ Dr. Parker taught what we teach at Parker today, that the philosophy of chiropractic has never changed, but that the application changes as we evolve the art and science of chiropractic. Also, on a personal basis, chiropractic does not change, but as we challenge ourselves to be more useful to our patients, we chiropractors become more of whom we are destined to be.”
Jim Parker's legacy
Parker College of Chiropractic is the natural extension of the Parker Seminars, which was first developed by Dr. Parker 58 years ago.
Parker Seminars is one of the largest gatherings of chiropractic professionals and service and product vendors anywhere in the world. Its largest gathering takes place each year in Las Vegas in January with more than 6,000 attendees.
Dr. Parker was one of Dr. B.J. Palmer’s esteemed protégés. While a senior in chiropractic college, Dr. Parker published a book on chiropractic and opened two successful practices in Illinois. After graduating from Palmer School of Chiropractic in 1946, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and in 18 months established 18 clinics throughout Texas.
When fellow chiropractors began besieging him to assist them by showing up at his various clinics, he began formally holding postgraduate seminars in 1951. These seminars over the last half century evolved into Parker Seminars, with more than 40,000 chiropractors and 250,000 chiropractic assistants in attendance since inception.
Because of the success of the seminars, Dr. Parker was encouraged to open Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas in 1982.
The legacy renewed
Dr. Mancini, who was born in Colombia and relocated with his family to Miami at age 12, never intended to be a chiropractor.
While a pre-med student in 1987, an orthopedic surgeon referred him to a chiropractor for treatment after a car accident. Impressed, he approached learning about chiropractic with his normal thoroughness. He interviewed 62 chiropractors over six months and then, satisfied that he was “destined” to be a chiropractor, switched from pre-med to enroll at Parker.
After graduation in 1990, his practice led him to a one-year contract to run the Nagel Chiropractic Clinic in Belgium, the most successful chiropractic clinic in Europe at the time with 130 patients a day. “I was making $10,000 a month, provided a house, a car, and a housekeeper,” says Dr. Mancini.
When he returned to the states, he intended to relocate to Colombia and introduce chiropractic to that country. He sought Dr. Parker’s advice. Dr. Parker did not think Dr. Mancini was ready for that yet, so instead asked Dr. Mancini to work for him.
“I asked him what he could offer me. He said $1,000 a month with no benefits and I would have to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week. I agreed, but with one condition: Allow me, I said, to learn from you, be in your space, attend all your meetings, attend sessions with you, board meetings, and meetings with you and the faculty.”
Dr. Parker agreed, naming Dr. Mancini assistant to the president and director of admissions.
“Why did I agree to that?” asks Dr. Mancini. “The truth is I would have paid Dr. Parker for the privilege to learn from him. But I also knew that Dr. Parker did not have the patience or inclination to teach anyone. He was a loner; he ran everything himself. I knew that to learn from him, I had to be there, every day, in his space. I did this for two-and-a-half years because I wanted to develop the passion and conviction that Dr. Parker had for chiropractic — a 50-year passion that cost him millions of dollars and many personal sacrifices.”
Dr. Mancini also endured sacrifice in that two-and-a-half years working alongside Dr. Parker. Aside from the monetary and time sacrifice was the constant cigar smoke Dr. Mancini had to ingest when he was around Dr. Parker. “My girlfriend, now my wife, would not let me near her until I took a shower or two,” says Dr. Mancini.
To some degree, because of the hands-on, controlling
“I thought I was too young, not seasoned enough, and agreed only if it was a unanimous decision by the board — knowing full well that three members of the board were among the 60 candidates being considered to be president,” says Dr. Mancini.
“To my amazement, only two days later, the board was unanimous in its decision to hire me. I accepted, but only with the condition that if in three to six months, it was apparent that the board had made a mistake, I would leave.
“I kept my practice, which I had built up over six years assuming I would be at Parker a short time,” continues Dr. Mancini. “Six months later, my accountant said the revenue from my practice had declined drastically. It came down to where I could personally have a greater impact and that was an easy decision for me. I sold my practice and have been here more than 10 years. Since that time, this role has been a calling to help not only promote the Parker suite of services, but also to advance our profession.”
The three concerns of the alumni
Over the last decade, Dr. Mancini has methodically attempted to integrate the three concerns of the alumni raised when he first surveyed them when he became president: emphasizing the philosophy of chiropractic; providing students with practical business education; and exposing students to hands-on clinical application of what they learn in the classroom.
“Our emphasis on the philosophy of chiropractic has positioned Parker as the pre-eminent wellness chiropractic college in the country,” says Dr. Mancini. “But also for years, chiropractic colleges focused on training students to be great doctors; the doctor-only mentality of chiropractic education which has neglected a very important aspect — business.
“In today’s marketplace, where some of the country’s top corporations are going under, what is the likelihood a doctor with no business training will stay afloat? That is why Parker College of Chiropractic has been on a mission to teach students to be not only superior doctors and clinicians, but also entrepreneurs with a keen understanding of ethical business practices.
“Parker students are taught budgeting, cash management, marketing, financial interpretation, negotiating a lease, evaluating taxation status, determining legal liability, insurance, billing, and many other hands-on business practices,” says Dr. Mancini.
Under his leadership, clinical hands-on care by chiropractic students begins in their first year. “We don’t exactly let them treat patients starting on the first day,” says Dr. Greg Page, assistant dean of clinics and director of the campus-based Public Clinic. “We have a staff of well-chosen and highly qualified chiropractors who treat patients,” he says. “But first trimester students watch treatments in observation rooms and then as they become more proficient, assist our doctors of chiropractic.”
Parker College also supports an abroad program designed to educate and raise awareness for chiropractic around the world. Tri-nine students are given the opportunity to study abroad at Mexico’s Univesidad Estatal del Valle de Ecatepec. Additionally, Parker students will actively support the Colombian Olympic Committee to prepare athletes for upcoming competition.
Back home, advanced students also work at The Chiropractic Wellness Clinics located in Dallas and Irving, Texas, and serve as chiropractic interns for the Veterans Affairs in the greater Dallas area.
“In 2010, we will open a new type of clinic here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area,” says Dr. Mancini. “We will employ three or four highly professional doctors of chiropractic at a clinic that we operate and oversee, and where our tri-nine students serve as interns not only to learn to work with patients, but also to develop the entrepreneurial business skills necessary to own their own practice.
“Students will be exposed to a professionally developed marketing plan and will actively participate in the strategic decisions and execution of that plan. The clinic will look and feel like an actual clinic, where students will learn in a real-world environment. As this model proves successful, we plan to expand it geographically.”
Under Dr. Mancini’s leadership the college also expanded its educational program to include a School of Massage Therapy and certification programs in sports medicine, neurology, science, animal chiropractic, and chiropractic pediatrics.
Future journey
What has Dr. Mancini meant to Parker College of Chiropractic in the 10 years he has served as president?
“Dr. James W. Parker deserves all the honor and credit for developing Parker College,” says Matt Eiserloh, chief marketing officer at Parker. “What Dr. Mancini has contributed, aside from a charismatic style of leadership, is that he has assembled a group of talented faculty and staff to contribute fully in all aspects of education, research, and service. He encourages all of us to fulfill our own potential and reminds us that it is up to us to bring more credibility and a higher set of standards to advance chiropractic.”
It would appear that Dr. Mancini’s style of management emulates the healthy wellness that Parker espouses in its philosophy of chiropractic.
“I believe life is a journey with meaning and the more you seek meaning, the more meaning life has for you,” says Dr. Mancini. “The staff and faculty at Parker College not only are dedicated to operating Parker College of Chiropractic as a highly professional and successful institution of chiropractic wellness, but to establish higher education and clinical models that can be emulated worldwide.
“Parker graduates practice in 31 countries throughout the world. The seminars always have been a vanguard to help promote this vision. They have taken us to Canada, Mexico, Australia, Asia, and Europe. The seminars have enabled us to raise funds for chiropractic research and higher education in all those countries.”
As part of his personal journey, Dr. Mancini also is “involved and evolved” in continued opportunity to bring together diverse approaches to chiropractic education and care in a mutually supportive profession that is highly professional in caring for and treating patients.
With his broad engaging smile and arms wide open, Dr. Mancini says, “As Dr. Jim Parker always said, loving service needs to be our first technique.”
Stanford Erickson is the editorial director for Chiropractic Economics. He can be reached at 904-567-1555, serickson@chiroeco.com, or through www.ChiroEco.com.
*To find your own meaning in each Parker Principle, visit www.ChiroEco.com/Principles.Contributions
Alumni, friends, faculty, and staff make an impact on Parker College of Chiropractic with every dollar they choose to give. Each gift provides necessary funding for quality education, student scholarships, innovative research, and campus enhancements to carry out the college’s vision — to be the leading educational institution for wellness care worldwide.
The Parker College Legacy Society recognizes those donors who have made a minimum cash contribution of $10,000.
Parker College Legacy Society:
Donor Gift Purpose
Foot Levelers $1,000,000 Student classrooms
Dr. Maurice Pisciottano $1,000,000 Building dedication
Standard Process $1,000,000 Student activity center
Dr. John G. Donovan $250,000 Student lounge
Erchonia Medical $35,000 Laser healthcare center
Parker College Alumni Association $25,000 Intern lounge
School facts
Year founded: 1982
Number of full time chiropractic students as of fall 2009: 936
Male: 65%
Female: 35%
Capacity of chiropractic program: 1,000
Annual number of chiropractic graduates: 180
Students to complete first year: 86%
Students to complete entire program: 72%
Grads practicing after 10 years: 95%
Student/faculty ratio: 13/1
Annual tuition: $21K
Research
Under Dr. Mancini’s watch, scientific evidence for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment also has expanded. Dr. Ronald Rupert, dean of research at Parker, has developed ChiroACCESS, which houses MANTIS, online research relevant to chiropractic as well as evidence-based reviews that summarize hundreds of articles into condensed versions. See Dr. Rupert’s article on page 17.
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