Academician of the Year
Two months after being announced as Dynamic Chiropractic’s 2024 Person of the Year, University of Pittsburgh Doctor of Chiropractic Program Director Michael Schneider was awarded the 2025 Academician of the Year by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) at their annual conference in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes his efforts in advancing the profession through academic and educational excellence. In 2013, Schneider also received the ACA George B. McClelland Researcher of the Year award which recognizes individuals for developing, refining and/or expanding the body of knowledge in chiropractic.
The Pitt Doctor of Chiropractic program, which will welcome its first cohort in fall 2025, is the first of its kind at a research-intensive public university in the U.S. The program will provide an innovative, evidence-based and clinically robust education focusing on spine and musculoskeletal conditions, and prepare students to work within interprofessional clinical teams. For the past ten years, Schneider has led the effort to launch the program, which has been met with wide support from the chiropractic profession around the world, University of Pittsburgh leadership and colleagues across the schools of the health sciences.
“Dr. Schneider was recognized for his pioneering work to establish a chiropractic program at an R1 research-intensive public university, which will open exciting new doors for the profession in respect to integration and chiropractic research. He touched on these opportunities during his McAndrews Leadership Lecture, which resonated with many people in the audience.”
-ACA Executive Director Karen Silberman, CAE
“ACA is excited to see where the program leads and the positive impact it will have on the future of the chiropractic profession and the millions of patients it serves.”
ACA Keynote Address
After receiving his award on stage, Schneider then presented the conference’s keynote address, “21st Century Chiropractic,” which was met with a standing ovation. In the address he revisited the obstacles that the profession overcame in the 20th century, and invoked the need for the profession to do more than just survive through the next several decades, but to thrive by making bold changes in five key areas to meet the modern era’s health care needs:
- Education – Reforming the current DC education model to what best serves the student—and ultimately our communities—financially and professionally, such as condensed programs, customized curriculums and early exposure to interprofessional clinical settings.
- Research – Making chiropractic educational programs a source for evidence-producing research rather than simply a consumer of evidence-based research.
- Clinical Practice – Integrating chiropractic among health care professions in interprofessional clinical settings such as the Veterans Administration, Federally Qualified Health Centers and private hospital and health care systems.
- Spine and Musculoskeletal Care – Cementing the Doctor of Chiropractic’s identity as the primary spine and musculoskeletal provider to address low back pain, the leading cause of disability worldwide.
- Whole Person Health – Embracing the “bio-psycho-social” approach to patient care that looks at the whole person rather than just what appears acutely “broken.” This holistic model of health care has been an integral part of chiropractic practice for over a century.
In closing, Schneider emphasized that by implementing these bold changes, the chiropractic profession will earn the respect it deserves in the 21st century, which is “earned and not given.” His bold insight into the new era of chiropractic education and care has become the leadership the profession has needed to guide new and established chiropractors for decades to come.
The new deadline for Pitt’s Doctor of Chiropractic program for domestic students is August 1 (or until seats are filled), or May 1 for international applicants. Classes start in August 2025. Apply now!
