Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation announces $500,000 donation to U of R
By Pamela Cowan, Leader-Post May 18, 2010
REGINA — The University of Regina’s diverse health research community is a natural home for Canada’s next Chiropractic Research Chair, says U of R president Dr. Vianne Timmons.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation announced a $500,000 gift to the U of R to establish the Chiropractic Research Chair in Neuromusculoskeletal Health to be housed in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies,
“We have a tremendous amount of health research going on at the University of Regina,” Timmons said. “This complements the work we’re doing here. So it’s a real asset to have this funded chair in this area.”
Dr. Allan Gotlib, CCRF executive vice-president, announced Dr. Paul Bruno of the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Bournemouth, England, will become the research chair on July 1.
“The U of R made a substantive proposal to the foundation — one that pushed all the right buttons with my board members and we were quite taken by the facilities,” Gotlib said.
Bruno holds a doctor of chiropractic degree from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto and a doctorate from the University of Portsmouth.
Appointed for a five-year term, Bruno will work with collaborative research clusters at the U of R:
* The Dr. Paul Schwann Applied Health and Research Centre
* The Falls Prevention Laboratory
* The Neuromechanical Research Centre
* The Healthy Aging Laboratory, and
* The Exercise Physiology Laboratory
As chair, he’ll spend 75 per cent of his time on research and the remainder on teaching and administrative tasks.
“I think all health-care providers today in the health-care system need to raise the quality of the evidence used to implement clinical care ... Chiropractors want to do their part in the health-care system and I think having the research chair with advanced training will help significantly in that regard,” Gotlib said.
Across Canada, chiropractors are collaborating with health-care professionals such as neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons.
“At the end of the day, the patient benefits from that,” Gotlib said. “There are no isolated silos any more and whatever is best for the patient is what should be implemented.”
As a result of the new position, Gotlib said Saskatchewan residents can expect: “Better treatment, faster treatment at the right time.”
The president of the Chiropractors’ Association of Saskatchewan said his association is proud to support the CCRF.
“All of our members indirectly are the major supporters of this announcement today,” said Dr. Shane Taylor. “What it means for the public of Saskatchewan is chiropractic research coming out of Saskatchewan is going to, hopefully, change health outcomes for people in the province.”
The CCRF, a division of the Canadian Chiropractic Association based in Toronto, is the profession’s primary national research funding organization. It’s partnered with organizations like the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to establish chiropractic research chairs in universities.
As such, the U of R joins nine Canadian universities as home to a CCRF research chair, professorship or scientist in biomechanics, neurophysiology disc biology and epidemiology.