June 30, 2021 will mark the last day as president of Palmer Chiropractic College West for Dr. William Meeker. The longtime Palmer administrator and 1982 Palmer West graduate has spent his entire professional career affiliated with the Palmer university system, first as vice president for research and director of the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research at Palmer's main campus in Davenport, Iowa for more than a decade; then as president of his alma mater in San Jose, Calif., since 2007.
"I'm very proud to have been a member of Palmer's academic community for my entire professional career," said Dr. Meeker in a Palmer College press release announcing his retirement. "My association with Palmer has energized my passions and provided me many pathways to serve the chiropractic profession.
"Particularly important to me was being given the opportunity to establish and lead the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, and thereby enhance its significant role in the development of the science of chiropractic."
Dr. Meeker's involvement in chiropractic and health care transcends his career at Palmer; during his tenure at the college, he has served as vice chair of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC); and as a member of both the National Advisory Council of NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association.
Currently, he chairs the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and serves on the boards of both World Spine Care and the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Spine Journal, the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Explore, and the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, among others.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
On Feb. 1, 2024, two more legislators – John R. Carter (R-Texas) and Robert “Bob” Good (R-Va.) – co-sponsored the Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2023, bringing the co-sponsor total to 155, two more than the total achieved over the entire two-year congressional cycle in which identical legislation last appeared (2021-22).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
