HUDEC BECOMES FIRST DOCTOR OF CHIROPRACTIC EVER TO GRADUATE FROM MILITARY RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Arlington, VA – For the first time in history, a doctor of chiropractic graduated from a military hospital residency program -- when Joanna Hudec, DC, completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) in Bethesda, MD on June 18, 2004. Hudec’s history-making graduation is seen by many as one of the clearest signs to date that the chiropractic profession works well with the medical community. Known as “the President’s hospital” because it is the site at which sitting U.S. presidents and other dignitaries receive care, NNMC is considered the “flagship of naval medicine.” The hospital also is the National Capital Region Resource for homeland defense. Most importantly, NNMC keeps the uniformed services mission ready and provides care to their families. “For chiropractic care to be integrated into a program within the most hallowed halls of medicine is an unparalleled step for this profession,” said American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President Donald J. Krippendorf, DC. “The ACA sincerely thanks Dr. Hudec for the shining example she has set for chiropractic.” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona not only attended the graduation ceremony -- which included about 355 medical interns, residents and fellows -- but also congratulated Dr. Hudec for her efforts and thanked NNMC attending physician William Morgan, DC for the time he spent as the program director of this residency. Additionally, the commanding officers of both NNMC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center thanked Dr. Hudec for her outstanding work. At a dinner following the ceremony, Texas Chiropractic College (TCC) President Richard Brassard, DC, presented Dr. Hudec with a diploma certifying her completion of TCC’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Integrative Medicine. Dr. Hudec began her 12-month fellowship at NNMC in April of 2003. Recognizing the need for doctors of chiropractic to be trained to work in an integrative hospital environment, TCC Director of Research James Giordano, PhD, and Dr. Morgan envisioned and then implemented the fellowship program, which is expected to become an ongoing, annual program. Dr. Hudec, an ACA member, called the founding of the fellowship program “just the beginning of the advancement of chiropractic into the military.” “In establishing this fellowship program, Texas Chiropractic College has made a very real contribution to our profession’s ongoing efforts toward integration into both the military health care system and our nation’s hospital system,” said Dr. Krippendorf. During her fellowship program, Dr. Hudec established a chiropractic clinic for the medical students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), also located in Bethesda, MD. That clinic is believed to be the only chiropractic clinic ever established within a medical school. A major goal of the military hospital chiropractic fellowship program is to provide a qualified pool of doctors of chiropractic to serve the needs of civilian, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and Department of Defense (DOD) hospital-based chiropractic clinics.