Northwestern Health Sciences University program guides students into ‘real world’

January 12, 2009 — Northwestern Health Sciences University’s practice management program for chiropractic students was jump-started in 1985 by the late William Harris, DC, a long-time benefactor of Northwestern, and Jim McDonald, MBA, Northwestern’s current vice president for administrative affairs and chief administrative officer.

Now, 23 years later, the program is called Business and Professional Foundations and is part of the curriculum for chiropractic students for nine trimesters. At the end of the fall 2008 trimester, McDonald turned over his remaining class (T9) to Terry Erickson, DC, associate professor and department chair of the Business and Professional Foundations Program.

“The Business and Professional Foundations Program is intended to help new graduates get off on the right foot, and convert theory into reality,” says Jerry Peterson, business owner and guest lecturer in Northwestern’s Business and Professional Foundations Program.

Dave Neubauer, DC, a Northwestern graduate who lectures in the program, says, “There is nothing else like this program in the United States. Other schools are following in Northwestern’s footsteps, but Northwestern jump-started the program. They are getting students prepared for the real world. Because of McDonald, the practice management program has been a success.”

Source: Northwestern Health Sciences University, www.nwhealth.edu/nwtoday/index.html