Thanksgiving

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I spent time with faculty from all three of our campuses at a retreat held at the medical school at the University of Iowa. This was devoted to teaching faculty clinicians and clinical teaching faculty some of the skills involved in using evidence-based clinical practice. Topics looked at concepts such as risk and odds ratios, sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and likelihood ratios of positive and negative tests. Our group was led by Dr. Marc Wilson, an internist at U Iowa who has also been long involved in the EBCP movement, and who has particular skills in facilitating physician groups. As a person who has worked with our Davenport faculty for some time now, and who is beginning to build contacts in our branch campuses, I realized that I was extremely grateful for all the work and the engagement I saw with our faculty. I realized that beyond that, I am grateful for a great many things, and so I wish to say thanks.

Thanks to our faculty for all the hard work you do. It may seem at times that it goes unnoticed, but I assure you this is not the case. We all share in your success when you publish a paper, or present new information at a conference, or reach a single student in a classroom setting. You make all of us proud.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work here at Palmer. It is a welcoming place to work, and it has provided a supportive environment in which to accomplish that work. I am lucky to work with the strongest set of faculty at any chiropractic college- at all of our campuses- and with the strongest set of administrators and staff as well.

I sent thanks to those whose work is often unheralded. Thanks to maintenance people, for support personal, janitorial staff, security and others. You all make this a better place, and you do so with good humor. And kudos to security, who often have to let me to the building when I show up at 3am because I am not able to sleep!

Again, I offer this short note of thanks to the college, to the people working in it, and to the jos it has given me. To all of you, please enjoy a restful holiday vacation. I hope you are able to spend it with family and friends, enjoying safe travels and good food. Happy holiday!