National University is proud to have graduates practicing all over the world. Recent chiropractic graduate, Dr. Stephen Shinault (DC’15) just started in an associate position 600 miles east of Madagascar on the island of Mauritius. “I wanted to work in a place that would both be a new experience for me and in a practice with patient-centered care,” he says.

He found the remote position through his membership in the Facebook group Forward Thinking Chiropractic Alliance. Dr. Cyril Fischoff, a DC originally from France, had posted the associate position to the group.

“The doctor had quite a rigorous interview process, giving applicants a series of cases to review along with questions on what each candidate would do in their diagnosis and treatment plan,” says Dr. Shinault. “When he heard I was a National University student, I was happy to see that he held the school in high esteem.”

Dr. Stephen Shinault – center, and
Dr. Cyril Fischoff – 2nd from left, and associates

Since Dr. Fischoff has both a private clinic and works in a local hospital, Dr. Shinault will gain hospital experience as an associate. “Dr. Fischoff also has a master’s in musculoskeletal ultrasound diagnosis. He has been teaching me how to perform sonography to a level where I can locate muscle, tendon, or ligament lesions,” he says.

“There are exciting things going on in the healthcare field in Mauritius. There is a proposal to regulate and rank allied health professions by their scope of practice, with chiropractors being primary care physicians for musculoskeletal conditions. There is also a plan in the works for developing an advanced clinical practice program (modeled after New Mexico) so that DCs here have access to relevant prescriptive rights including lidocaine and anti-inflammatory steroid injections,” says Dr. Shinault.

“The island has 1.3 million people with only 7 chiropractors. The three main languages spoken on the island are Mauritian Creole, French, and English,” Shinault explains. “Since I’ve been here the weather has been consistently 81-88 degrees F, with humidity ranging from 75-90%. The scenery is beautiful and you can see sugar cane growing for miles as you travel down the motorways.”

Dr. Shinault is committed to at least one year in Mauritius and hopefully will stay. He has set up a blog so that interested students can follow his adventure: http://islandchiro.blogspot.com