Pierce Family Donates $100,000

Thomas and his late wife, Judith, were not only chiropractic patients but the uncle and aunt of a chiropractor. Judith suffered from neuropathy, meniscus injury, and balance issues, and was a 10 year survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “Judy’s longevity with the illness was attributed to her healthy lifestyle, medical, and chiropractic care,” stated Thomas. “In our search for the best treatments, the lack of research and protocols for her conditions in chiropractic inspired our family to help create future chiropractic fellowships in hopes that valuable research might be developed to help others with similar conditions.” The Pierce Family Chiropractic Research Fellowship Fund will be used to provide funding for a three-year fellowship program for chiropractic research at Dartmouth College. The Chiropractic Research Fellowship at Dartmouth is scheduled to begin in 2023 and culminate in 2025; the fellow will study in an integrative healthcare environment, focus on chiropractic research, complete a mentored research project, complete the master’s degree program, and provide Chiropractic Future with annual progress reports, subject to the appropriate confidentiality and data use agreements required by law or policy.

This month, Chiropractic Future Strategic Plan announced that Logan University graduate, Logan Benjamin, DC, CSCS, was selected as the Dartmouth Fellow. He is interested in implementation science, particularly in finding the most efficient and effective ways to provide care in community health centers and hospital systems. Currently, Dr. Benjamin is working with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on a scoping review of implementation studies for non-pharmacologic and non-invasive treatments for low back pain. Dr. Benjamin is thrilled to have been chosen to represent the chiropractic profession at Dartmouth College and will do everything he can to help lead the profession toward a more unified future. "The Dartmouth Fellowship reflects the Chiropractic Future Strategic Plan's commitment to creating a well-funded research environment and more career opportunities for chiropractic researchers," states Dr. Heidi Haavik, Research Workgroup Chair. "Fellowships like these, and the support of the Pierce Family Chiropractic Research Fellowship Fund, are essential in providing opportunities to students like Dr. Benjamin, and advancing the chiropractic profession."

In November of 2019, a visionary idea was born: Build a strategic plan which will lead the entire chiropractic profession into an essential and thriving future. In August 2020, that visionary idea became The Chiropractic Future Visioning and Strategic Planning Project. Massive quantitative and qualitative data gathering from all corners of the profession successfully identified common goals and priorities. Intensely spirited and collaborative workgroup sessions, representing the breadth of the profession, accomplished the heavy lift of creating an actionable, measurable plan. Eighteen months after the idea was born, a historic 2021 – 2026 strategic plan has been developed.

Thomas Pierce is an army veteran and reservist and spent most of his life as a steelworker. He enjoys working on his cars and motorcycles and doing construction and electronic projects around their farm. He loved getting dressed up and having Friday date nights with his wife, Judy. Judy retired from Bethlehem Steel (accounting) after 35 years, was very active, and loved gardening, trail running with her dogs, and dancing. She was a lifelong learner of new things - cycling, circuit training, basket weaving, and more. She passed away in 2020 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma.