Research Committee
Chair
Professor Sidney RUBINSTEIN DC, PhD (Chair) (Netherlands)
Sidney Rubinstein is an endowed professor at the Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He completed his chiropractic education at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in 1992, and was awarded his PhD in 2008 from the VU, Amsterdam. His area of expertise is systematic reviews & meta-analyses, and his area of research interest includes effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of musculoskeletal conditions, including large trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of two operative techniques in patients with lumbar hernia’s (PTED study) and the role of a current protocol in those with ankle and wrist fractures (WARRIOR Trial). His teaching responsibilities include supervision of BSc and MSc internships, and lectures at all levels of academia (BSc, MSc and post-doctoral (PhD)). For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see the following link https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-994X.
Vice-Chair
Dr Katie POHLMAN DC, MS, PhD (USA)
Katherine A Pohlman is the Director of Research at Parker University. She completed her chiropractic education and a Master’s of Science in Clinical Research at Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2006 & 2010, respectively, and was awarded her PhD in 2019 from the University of Alberta in Canada. She is an expert in patient safety and the study of the effectiveness of chiropractic care in special populations including children, adolescences, pregnant/post-partum individuals, and overall women’s health. She received Researcher of the Year in 2020 from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), was the 2023 World Congress of Women Chiropractors’ Leadership awardee, and received the NCMIC Foundation McAndrew Award in 2024. For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see the following link Orchid ID 0000-0002-1536-112X.
Chair Emeritus
Dr Scott HALDEMAN DC, MD, PhD, FRCP (Chair Emeritus) (USA).
Scott Haldeman DC, MD, PhD, FRCP(C), FCCS(C), FAAN. Chairman Emeritus, Research Committee, World Federation of Chiropractic, Clinical Professor in the Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine. Adjunct Professor, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Founder and President of World Spine Care. Past President of the North American Spine Society and the American Back Society. A graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, USA, the University of Pretoria, South Africa and the University of British Columbia, Canada. Chairman of the Global Spine Care Initiative. Current research interest includes guidelines for evidence-based care of chronic pain conditions and specifically spine pain, the association of spinal pain with general health condition, the impact of non-pharmaceutical spine interventions on costs of care and opioid dependency. The implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions in underserved communities around the world. ORCID: 0000-0002-8688-9562
Dr Marc-André BLANCHETTE DC, MSc, PhD (Canada)
Marc-André Blanchette completed his chiropractic education at UQTR in 2005, and was awarded his PhD in 2017 from the University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada. His area of expertise is health services research using secondary data analysis, and his current area of research interest includes the trajectory and quality of care for musculoskeletal conditions. His teaching responsibilities include supervision of undergraduate and graduate students’ research projets , and lectures in epidemiology at all levels of academia. For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see the following link Orchid ID 0000-0001-7172-7344.
Dr Brian C. COLEMAN, DC, MHS (USA)
Brian C. Coleman is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at the Yale School of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health. He completed his chiropractic education at the University of Bridgeport in 2017, postdoctoral fellowship training in medical informatics at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and Yale School of Medicine in 2020, and a Masters in Health Sciences in Clinical Research from the Yale School of Medicine in 2023. He is a health services researcher with expertise and interests in health systems implementation of nonpharmacologic interventions for musculoskeletal pain, leveraging biomedical informatics methods. His teaching responsibilities include supervising masters and doctoral students and leading a graduate course in Population and Public Health Informatics at the Yale School of Public Health. He is a K08 Clinical Scientist Career Development Award recipient from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the US National Institutes of Health. For a complete overview of education, employment, and publications, see the following link: https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/brian-coleman/.
Dr Anne JENSEN BSc, DC, DPhil, MSc, MS (Australia)
Dr. Anne Marie Jensen completed her initial chiropractic education at New York Chiropractic College in 1993, where she graduated as Salutatorian, Magna Cum Laude. She furthered her education with a DPhil in Evidence-Based Health Care from the University of Oxford, UK, in 2015. Dr. Jensen specialises in integrating psychological and physiological health to enhance patient care, with a significant focus on muscle response testing and emotional-somatic therapies. She is actively involved in delivering Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, focusing on practical applications of her research to professional practice. Her contributions to her field are well-documented in her extensive publications and ongoing research activities. For a comprehensive overview of Dr. Jensen’s academic achievements and contributions, please visit her ORCID profile at https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6633-3196.
Dr Imran Khan NIAZI MS, PhD (New Zealand)
Imran Khan Niazi completed his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering (specialisation: Biomedical Engineering) from Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2005, his master’s in Biomedical Engineering from the University & FH Luebeck, Germany, in 2009, and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Aalborg, Denmark, in 2012. After a year as a research assistant professor, he moved to New Zealand in 2013, where he is currently the Director of the Centre for Chiropractic Research (CCR) at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic(NZCC). He holds an Adjunct Associate Professor position at Auckland University of Technology(AUT) and an Adjunct Researcher at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on rehabilitation engineering, neural engineering, and applied neuroscience, particularly non-pharmacological treatments to improve patient quality of life. He has supervised 9 PhD students to graduation, is currently supervising 5 PhD students, and has supervised more than 40 master-level projects. He also teaches the Research Design Course for the Master of Health Sciences at AUT and NZCC and has taught Motor Control (Rehab Technologies) for the Master of Health Sciences at AUT since 2016. For a complete overview of his education, employment, and publications, see the following link: ORCID ID 0000-0001-8752-7224.
Dr Corrie MYBURGH M-Appl.Sc:Chiropractic, PhD (Denmark)
Cornelius “Corrie” Myburgh is an Associate Professor within the Institute of at the University of Southern Denmark (Research unit affiliation: Psychology of Sport, Excellence and Health) and a senior researcher at the Chiropractic Knowledge Hub. He qualified as a chiropractor from the Durban University of Technology before going on to complete his Doctor of Philosophy with specialisation in social science research methods, from the University of Stellenbosch. In addition, he holds a Master’s in Medical Education (Cum Laude) from the University of Dundee. Corrie is a managing partner at the Rygcenter midt chiropractic clinical group and current president of the Danish sports chiropractic association (Chirosport Denmark). Corrie holds a visiting research fellow at the University of Johannesburg- Department of Chiropractic. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7741-1313
Dr Keseri PADAYACHY PhD, MChiro (South Africa)
Keseri Padayachy currently works as the Deput Chair at the Durban University of Technology(DUT), and in clinical practice since 2006. She completed her chiropractic education at DUT in 2006, and was awarded her PhD in 2017 from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Her area of expertise is clinical trials and her current area of research interest includes generating South African data for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. Her teaching responsibilities include supervision of MSC interns and PhD students. She was awarded Golden Key for her PhD research. Her role as the Deputy Chair of the Institutional Research Ethics Committee at DUT advocates the importance of participant/patient safety in the use of research. She is also responsible for leading the research portfolio for the Chiropractic Association of South Africa. For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see the following link Orchid ID 0000-0002-6418-1993
Dr Steven PASSMORE DC, MS, PhD (Canada)
Steven Passmore is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Recreation Management at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He completed his chiropractic education at New York Chiropractic College (now Northeast College of Health Sciences) in 2006, and was awarded his PhD in 2013 from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His area of expertise is perceptual motor learning & control, and his current area of research interest includes implementation of conservative musculoskeletal spine care in underserved communities. His teaching responsibilities include supervision of MSc and PhD students, and lectures at all levels of academia (Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral (PhD)). He was named research of the year by the Canadian Chiropractic Association (2020), and was appointed by the Canadian Federal Government to the Canadian Pain Task Force, External Advisory Panel. For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see the following link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/steven.passmore.1/bibliography/public/
Dr Stacie SALSBURY RN, MSN, PhD (USA)
Stacie Salsbury is an Associate Professor at Palmer College of Chiropractic and a faculty member at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research. She is a Registered Nurse who earned the BSN, MSN, and PhD in gerontological nursing degrees at The University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. She has served as an investigator on numerous research studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), other governmental agencies, and private foundations to explore spine care and symptom management in midlife and older adults, back pain and veterans health, patient safety, and the integration of chiropractic care into multidisciplinary settings. Her methodological approaches include ethnography, qualitative methods, clinical trials, health services research, and implementation science. Dr. Salsbury is a member of the Executive Committee of the WFC Global Patient Safety Task Force, the Scientific Commission of The Clinical Compass, the Partner Engagement and Implementation Science Workgroups of the Pain Management Collaboratory and the Implementation Science and Health Equity Cores of the Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory of the National Institutes of Health, and an editorial board member of several journals. She received the George B. McClelland Researcher of the Year Award from the American Chiropractic Association in 2022. For a complete overview of education, employment and publications see ORCID: 0000-0002-9668-2426.
Professor Michael SCHNEIDER DC, PhD (USA)
Michael Schneider received his PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 and his DC degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1982. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has been a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on numerous randomized clinical trials. He practiced chiropractic for over 25 years before transitioning into his current career as a fulltime academic researcher. Dr. Schneider is a Full Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was recently appointed as the inaugural Director of the Doctor of Chiropractic program. This is the first DC program to be offered by a research-intensive public university in the USA. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7190-3379
Dr Michael SWAIN PhD, MPhil, MChiroprac, FRCC, FHEA (Australia)
Michael Swain completed his chiropractic education at Macquarie University in 2004 and was awarded his PhD in 2019 from the University of Sydney, Australia. His area of expertise is observational epidemiology, and his current research interests include musculoskeletal conditions in children, adolescents, and young adults. He is an Associate Professor and Director of Research Training in the Department of Chiropractic at Macquarie University, Australia. His teaching responsibilities include convening undergraduate units, lecturing and tutoring undergraduate and postgraduate students, and supervising MChiroprac, MRes, and PhD students. His research has been awarded prizes at national and international conferences. For a complete overview of his education, employment, and publications, see the following link: https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/michael-swain/prizes/.
Professor Richard Brown, DC, LL.M, JP, FRCC, FBCA, FEAC
Ex-officio member
WFC Secretary-General
Richard Brown is the Secretary-General of the World Federation of Chiropractic. Based in Toronto, Canada, Richard took up his new post on 1 July 2015. The WFC, an NGO in official relations with WHO, has 88 members in 7 world regions and is principally concerned with the support, empowerment, promotion and unity of the chiropractic profession internationally.