On Feb 13, Claire Johnson, DC, MSEd, PhD, DACBSP, and Bart Green, DC, MSEd, PhD, DACBSP, delivered a presentation to the National University of Health Sciences (NUHS) community. Thirty-four attendees, including students and faculty, joined in to hear them discuss what it takes to successfully conduct research studies.

Dr. Johnson and Dr. Green are both nationally known researchers. They’re also editors of NUHS’ three scientific, peer reviewed journals. In addition to their doctor of chiropractic degrees, they both have diplomates in sports chiropractic, master’s degrees in health professions and education, and PhDs in health epidemiology.

“It’s a real privilege for me to introduce Drs. Johnson and Green to you,” Dr. Greggory Cramer, Dean of Research at NUHS said. “Because they live and work on the West Coast, these two individuals are what I like to think of as National’s two best kept secrets. I like to call them the dynamic duo…we’re really fortunate to have them as part of our extended NUHS family.”

They started the presentation by elaborating on why research is a team sport. Dr. Johnson affirmed that it’s important to create a team of people who have the knowledge and skills needed to conduct a study, noting that   research should not be done alone.

Dr. Green suggested the best way to achieve your goal is to engage your team and each member’s specific talents. Dr. Johnson uses this idea as well. Their philosophy is that they can all learn from each other to improve the overall quality of the research project.

“All of us can’t do all things, and we’re not experts in all areas,” Dr. Johnson said. “I know what my strengths are and my weaknesses. Many of my weaknesses, Dr. Green is excellent at doing. He has superpowers that I don’t have. We try to match our teammates superpowers with the needs of the project.”

They’ve broken down the approach to scholarly activities into four easy steps:

1. Ask questions that you are passionate about and clearly define the goal.
2. Select the research team from a qualified pool of experts and gather necessary resources.
3. Determine a step-by-step process for skill training, implement the research, monitor each step and follow through to completion, while keeping the goal in mind.
4. Disseminate or publish the information for others to learn from the findings.

“We think that research is best done with a team that is focused on a very clear research purpose,” Dr. Green said. “The goal should be to answer a question that adds meaning and depth to the health sciences or education literature.”

Throughout the presentation, they shared several projects they have been working on together:

• Burnout and Resilience: Burnout levels of Chiropractic faculty and what they perceive contributes to their resilience.
• Technology Competencies: What technology skills are needed to provide safe and effective care.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Demographics in the Chiropractic profession from an international perspective.
• Chiropractic Education Research: What is the available evidence that supports Chiropractic education.
• Global Chiropractic Accreditation Standards: Multiauthor and international study comparing the similarities and differences of all international Chiropractic accrediting agency standards.
• Spine Conditions and Comorbidities: Rounding up all the epidemiological literature that reports associations between spine related pain and pathologies and non-spinal health conditions.

“We feel that we’re able to engage in these projects because we have found capable teammates, we’ve identified the resources needed and have used team skills such as communication, training and recognition,” Dr. Johnson said. “When we work together as a team, everybody wins.”

After emphasizing that the team, not the leader, is the most important asset to get to the finish line, Dr. Green leaves the group with a quote from Robert Zuppke, the inventor of the team huddle:

“Team guts always beat individual greatness.”