Parker College of Chiropractic's New President Fabrizio Mancini, D.C.

There's a new sheriff in town...or, in this case, there are 2 new college presidents. We want to be among the first to give these two energetic, enthusiastic, and insightful leaders a hearty welcome. To find out more about their visions for the future of chiro­practic and their respective colleges, read on! A close friend and protege of the world-renowned Dr. James W. Parker, Dr. Fabrizio Mancini will work with trust­ees, faculty, and alumni to both solidify' the college's commit­ment to the chiropractic profession, and renew the profes­sion's commitment to Parker College. "I am passionate about Parker College and the profession of chiropractic," Dr. Mancini says. "My first priority is to identify opportuni­ties to continue the school's growth and, then, to build fur­ther upon the success the college has enjoyed throughout the years." A native of Colombia, South America, Dr. Mancini received his doctor of chiropractic degree from Parker College in 1990. While at Parker, he distinguished himself academically and personally, impressing faculty, staff, and students with his engaging manner and heartfelt commitment to chiroprac­tic. After graduation, Dr. Mancini continued to serve the col­lege as President of the Parker College Alumni Association and as a member of the Board of Trustees. His commitment to chiropractic and the North Dallas com­munity has been demonstrated through his sen'ice as: Mem­ber of the Executive Board of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, as Chairman of the Hispanic Divi­sion and on the Health Care Committee; Member of the Board of the Irving School Foundation; Member of the Board of the Irving Infant Intervention Center; Mentor for Hispanic students in the Irving school district; and as fre­quent lecturer to corporate and civic groups on health and motivation. An enthusiastic proponent of the "Love Concept," Dr. Jim Parker's famous principles for attaining personal and pro­fessional success through loving service, Dr. Mancini has practiced successfully in Florida, Belgium, and most recent­ly, in Irving, Texas. TAC: In your position as the President of Parker Col­lege, what is your vision as to the future of the college? FM: The wonderful opportunity that I have, being a Parker graduate, having served on the alumni board for three years, and as past-President of the alumni, serving on the Board of Trustees for three years, I understand what the college's mission is. The purpose of Parker College was primarily to have a chiropractic institution that not only taught a great chiropractic program and developed these people as chiro­practors, but as people. Also, Dr. Parker, since he was teaching the Parker seminars for so many years, wanted to make sure that we had a chiropractic college that taught the success principles at an earlier stage, rather than after the doctor has been in practice, or possibly even failed, because he/she didn't own the principles of success. Also, Parker College is dedicated to having the strongest philosophy possible, from D. D. Palmer, to B. J. Palmer, to Dr. Jim, etc. But, we also feel that we should have a very competitive clinical background because we are primary care providers and we need to serve in that capacity and feel totally confident to be able to manage any type of case that comes through our door. And, number three, we make it a point to teach as many techniques as we can-nine, right now-so that our students feel proficient in technique, certainly. But, more important­ly, to expose them to different techniques, so they can choose which techniques they're going to be using in prac­tice. We also have a mission that we will be very strong in par­ticipating in research, and developing a type of research that is basic science in nature, and clinical science in nature, toward the advancement of the chiropractic profession. And we have a mission by which we want to help in the development and the advancement of chiropractic education outside of the United States and Canada. TAC: Dr. Mancini, what do you foresee as to the future of the Parker Seminars? FM: The Parker Seminars have been around for about forty-eight years. They were instituted because, after Dr. Jim had built eighteen clinics in the state of Texas, and been successful at it, many people started asking him to share his procedure and philosophy with them, to help them be suc­cessful. Dr. Parker brought to the chiropractic profession a sense of self-esteem, a sense of pride, in that a chiropractor is someone who is helping many people get well. Someone who should feel very proud, and very confident that they Continued on page 49... from page 46... could be as successful or more successful than any other doctor alive. What we want to do in Parker Seminars right now is con­tinue to promote the success principles, the love concept, the attitudes that have helped so many chiropractors that have come through our program be successful. Parker Seminars are dedicated to celebrating what's good about chiropractic. They're the largest chiropractic gatherings in the world, because we concentrate on the positive. We attract the positive. Regardless of which chiropractic college you grad­uated from, this is a home for you. This is a place where you'll see other alumni members from your institution sharing and cel­ebrating what's good about chiropractic. We want to take Parker Seminars to different regions of the United States, so we can get to those chiropractors who have asked us to go to their regions. And also, we want to make a commitment to going, once a year, to a different part of the world, in order to spread our philosophy, our message about chi­ropractic, to those countries that are developing themselves, but are lacking in some of these philosophies of chiropractic. TAC: Then, how would you plan to expand chiropractic more internationally? FM: Right now, to expand chiropractic more internationally, we are very committed to spreading chiropractic worldwide. One of the things that we have done in the past is attract people from other countries to come to Parker College and get educated and, then, return to their countries and serve their communities through chiropractic. We're going to take that a step further, now, because we have graduates in different parts of the country, who are saying to us that this is a perfect time to start setting up chiropractic educa­tional programs in those countries, by which we can start edu­cating those communities at their levels and economic stand­ards. We're seeing, already, that other colleges are looking into expanding chiropractic outside the United States. Because of our resources with the Parker Seminars and the Parker College graduates, we have the means of helping in that project. We are talking to different countries right now, to see what is the best avenue for us to expand without compromising the chiropractic education in those countries TAC: And, with the already existing chiropractic colleges and associations around the world, how would you like to see Parker College and the Seminars participating in uniting them? FM: We're at a very unique point in our history, and one where we have as many chiropractic colleges outside the United States as we have within the United States. We have chiroprac­tic colleges in England, in Australia, in France, in the Orient. The impor­tant thing right now is that we must recognize that the rest of the world will develop much faster than the United States in the next ten years. The rest of the world and the chiro­practors in those countries are very excited about developing chiropractic programs and chiropractic colleges, so they can, then, educate their people in their own languages, in their own economic structures. And we can do that. Parker Seminars will be assisting in that process by attending and having a Parker Seminar once a year in a different country. Parker College is going to be assisting in the process of developing the proper curriculum, and assisting in the development of the teaching that we have been so suc­cessful doing in the United States, and bring that to the rest of the world. TAC: Do you have any final words of advice for our read­ers, as to their practices or the future? FM: Since I've been in this position, and I've been able to travel to different areas and meet many chiropractors and hear what some of them are going through, the one thing I see is that the chiropractors who seem to be succeeding are the peo­ple who don't doubt who they are as chiropractors. They're individuals who understand our history, understand our founda­tion, and understand our principle. The way that you practice that principle can vary from doctor to doctor, but the common denominator is that you have to understand what your role as a chiropractor is. Then, you must not be afraid to share the chiropractic story with as many peo­ple as you come across, because we still find that the average person out there has not heard the chiropractic story, and it's because-even though we're about 50,000 in the United States, who are practicing-there still aren't enough of us who are shar­ing that story with as many people as we need to. So, if you're going to spend money, whether for advertising in the yellow pages or elsewhere, spend money sharing the chiropractic story. What I've seen is that that will bring you more patients than you thought it could. And don't be afraid to be proud to share all the wonderful suc­cess stories of your patients with people, because they need to know that chiropractic is more than just a "neck pain, back pain" type of profession. We are a profession that allows the body to heal itself of many different types of ailments, by maintaining (in our premise) that we restore the body's health by correcting the subluxations of the body, which are interfer­ing with body's natural ability to heal itself. For more information about Parker College of Chiropractic and/or Parker Seminars, contact PCC at 2500 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas, TX 75229. Phone: 972-438-693 or 800-438-6932; e-mail: [email protected]: website: www.parkercc. edit. ♦♦♦ Fabrizio Mancini, D.C