Logan University creates first formal U.S. – Cuba chiropractic partnership

July 26, 2016—On the heels of a trip formalizing the arrangement, Logan University President Clay McDonald has announced an extensive agreement between Cuba’s Institute of Sports Medicine and Logan University to foster collaboration across many aspects of education, research and patient care. The agreement calls for faculty exchange and development, collaborative educational programs and chiropractic care for the Institute’s athletes, staff and ultimately private Cuban citizens.

The initial actions include: the translation of Logan’s online Master of Science in Sports Science and Rehabilitation program into Spanish and incorporating a number of the Institute’s acclaimed clinicians as instructors; Logan’s active participation in the Sports Medicine section of Congress of Sports to be held in Cuba in November of 2017; and exchange opportunities for each organization’s faculty, staff and students beginning in the spring of 2017.

Arrangements are currently being made to host the Director of the Institute of Sports Medicine, Jorge Pavel Pino Rivera, and other key officials from Cuba on Logan’s campus this fall to explore additional opportunities.

“The prospect of working closely with one of the world’s most highly regarded sports institutes and bringing chiropractic care to Cuba’s elite athletes and ultimately to their public is an incredible opportunity for both of our students and faculty,” said McDonald.

The Institute of Sports Medicine is the health care provider for elite athletes in Cuba and a subset of The National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER). INDER was created in 1961 after the Revolution when Fidel Castro announced an end to professional sports leagues and created a national amateur sports program, which governs all sport and recreation in Cuba. Sport is a core subject of the educational curriculum at all levels and is given equal weight with other educational subjects. Further, while the Institute, like much of Cuba’s health care program, is significantly underfunded and lacking technology, it maintains a strong international reputation for quality of care.

Logan University began conversations with the Institute of Sports Medicine in late 2015, shortly after David Parish, DC, MS, CSCS, DACBSP, ICCSP, Program Director of Logan’s Master of Science in Sports Science and Rehabilitation, and Leonard Ershow, DC, CASBSP, ART, NKT, CKTP, a chiropractor from Princeton, N.J. were invited to speak at Congreso Internacional de Medicina Deportiva in conjunction with the Federation of International Chiropractic Sports.

Pictured from left to right:

• Clay McDonald, President of Logan University
• Eduardo Antonio Becali Garrido, President of the National Institute of Sports Medicine and Recreation (INDER)
• David Parish, Program Director of the Master of Science in Sports Science and Rehabilitation at Logan University
• Jorge Pavel Pino Rivero, Director of the Institute of Sports Medicine
• Roberto Leon Richard, First Vice President of INDER
• Marta Licid (a)Ruiz Perez, Cuba’s Director of International Relations

Source: Logan University