As the American Chiropractic Association’s (ACA) senior scientific advisor, she has served as a trusted counselor to ACA leadership in respect to research affecting the association’s legislative, regulatory and payment policy initiatives. She also serves as the chair of ACA’s Committee on Quality Assurance and Accountability (CQAA). In 2017, she hosted ACA’s “Women in Chiropractic” Facebook Live event, which explored the opportunities and challenges for female chiropractors.
Earlier this month, Dr. Goertz accepted a three-year term as chair of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors. PCORI was established in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act to fund research to help patients, caregivers, and their health practitioners make evidence-based, patient-centered healthcare decisions. Its board is made up of 21 representatives of the patient, general consumer, clinical, insurance, research, employer, industry, and policy healthcare sectors. Dr. Goertz has served as vice chair since 2018, and she was the first chiropractor on the board, which is made up of 21 representatives of the patient, general consumer, clinical, insurance, research, employer, industry, policy and other healthcare sectors.
Dr. Goertz served 11 years at Palmer College of Chiropractic, principally as vice chancellor of research and health policy, where she is credited with helping the college win some $27 million in federal research grants during her term. She was the first complementary and alternative (CAM) professional to be hired by the National Institutes of Medicine and serve as a program officer. At NIH, she managed a $50 million portfolio focused on musculoskeletal disease, pain, and health services research.
Her excellence in research administration and implementation was recognized in 2011 when it was announced that she would oversee the design and implementation of three clinical trials to assess chiropractic treatment for military readiness in active-duty personnel, which was funded by the largest single grant award for a chiropractic research project in the history of the profession: $7.4 million.
Since joining ACA in 1992, she has been an invaluable contributor to the advancement of the association and the chiropractic profession. ACA would like to thank Dr. Goertz for her extensive work with ACA on behalf of the chiropractic profession and patients it serves, and we look forward to her continued involvement as an active member and volunteer.
