The American Chiropractic Association’s 2026 Humanitarian of the Year Valerie Johnson, DC, DABCI, DACBN, retired in 2025 after a trailblazing 20-year career in the Veterans Administration (VA) health care system. Her colleagues have praised the exceptional, empathetic, and patient-centered care she provided to veterans as lead chiropractor—and later supervisor of chiropractic services—at the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Dr. Johnson was also a respected mentor to many chiropractors who came after her, setting a standard of excellence that helped ensure the continued growth of chiropractic within the VA. Below, we learn more about her surprising journey to the VA, what impressed her once she got there, and just how deeply personal it was for her to have the opportunity to care for our nation’s veterans.
You started your career in private integrated healthcare practices in California and even worked for a time at a clinic in Beverly Hills. What was your motivation to make the transition to the VA healthcare system in 2005?
Dr. Johnson: I began my career in private, integrative healthcare settings in the greater Los Angeles area, including a state-of-the-art outpatient rehabilitation clinic in Beverly Hills, where I provided pre- and post-op rehabilitation for orthopedic surgeons. I found that work deeply rewarding and had not planned to leave it. However, in 2004, a unique sequence of events led me to apply for the position at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
Earlier, Congress had mandated the hiring of a small, finite group of chiropractors nationwide to integrate chiropractic care into selected VA hospitals, a historic step for both veterans and our profession. I had been following the development of these positions through my involvement while serving on the alumni board at Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. When the clinic I worked for unexpectedly sold the rehab clinic, I learned that the VA position was surprisingly still unfilled. I was offered a position with the new owner; however, the VA opportunity resonated with me personally and professionally.
My father, along with many members of my family, were veterans who had received care at this very VA, and I had prior experience working in a large hospital and integrative medical settings. Ultimately, my motivation was simple: I believed my unique background would help ensure that this groundbreaking program succeeded, and I would get to provide the services I had learned in Beverly Hills to veterans like my dad within a culture I understood and deeply respected.
Coming from private practice to the VA, your work must have changed dramatically as far as patients’ overall health and the type of conditions you encountered. Can you tell us more about what that was like?
Dr. Johnson: The transition to the VA deeply changed my work. One of the biggest differences was finally having full access to a patient’s complete medical records. This included the ability to see all their diagnoses from multiple providers, labs, imaging, medications, surgeries, and how clinical notes were written across various disciplines. Having previously worked in a hospital lab and alongside primary care physicians and orthopedic surgeons, I also understood how poor lab results, injuries, and the aging process affected overall health. At first, it felt overwhelming to try to pull everything together to create a treatment plan that truly served the veteran.
The veteran population itself was also different. I encountered more known post-traumatic stress disorders, traumatic brain injuries, military sexual traumas, moral injuries, and complex musculoskeletal injuries, along with higher rates of smoking and admitted recreational drug use. Yet what quickly became clear was how similar veteran needs were to those of my private practice patients. Veterans wanted to be listened to and heard, to be told, in understandable terms, what was happening in their bodies, what they could do, and to explore non-drug approaches to care. Regardless of setting, people are seeking the same things in health care: listening, understanding, and compassionate care.
How familiar were veterans at the VA with chiropractic care when you started? Were veterans in general eager to have more access to non-drug options for their pain? What kinds of questions did you get in the beginning?
Dr. Johnson: I was pleasantly surprised by how familiar many veterans were with chiropractic care. Some shared that they had actively fought for chiropractic services within the VA, used chiropractic terminology such as “adjustments” and “manipulation,” and asked questions about the techniques I used; while others, new to chiropractic, wanted to understand how my approach might differ from care they had already received.
Many veterans were also curious about my background and asked where I had worked before coming to the VA. When I mentioned Beverly Hills, they were intrigued and sometimes puzzled about why I would leave that setting. I explained that they were benefiting from my previous experience, as I had essentially duplicated or upgraded the equipment and tools from my former practice, so they were receiving many of the same techniques, if not better. I reminded them that the VA, as part of the federal government, offers a depth of specialized resources for veterans that no individual private practice, even in Beverly Hills, could match.
Despite having ready access to various pain medications, many veterans expressed a strong preference for non-drug options.
What type of reception did you receive from MDs and other healthcare professionals in those early days? What were some of the challenges or misconceptions that you had to address?
Dr. Johnson: I was honestly overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception I received. When I was first introduced at a monthly department meeting, the response included enthusiastic applause and even whistles from a room of nearly 100 staff members. That moment set the tone for what became an incredibly supportive environment.
I was fortunate to have mentors from many different disciplines who genuinely wanted to see the chiropractic program succeed. Colleagues went out of their way to include chiropractors in discussions and decision-making, which helped me feel respected and fully integrated into the team. This was something I had not expected but deeply appreciated.
Of course, there were a few strong and skeptical voices early on, particularly around misconceptions about cervical manipulation and concerns about stroke risk. Similar reservations were sometimes expressed about other integrative services such as acupuncture and massage. Over time, through open dialogue, collaboration, and shared clinical experiences such as chiropractic residents participating in rotations in their department—many of those concerns were dispelled, reinforcing for me how trust and understanding can grow when professionals work together with a shared goal of patient-centered care.
What surprised you (in a good way) about practicing in the VA?
Dr. Johnson: What surprised me most, in the best way, was the extraordinary level of support and resources within the VA and federal government. We were educated on how to best use these resources to provide care for the veterans and their families. There are endless online educational courses that are available to not only make you a better clinician but also sharpen your professional skills.
I was surprised by how grateful the veterans were for the care they received. I was surprised that my chiropractic staff and I could create this warm, cozy space that felt more like a private practice where veterans could come to be listened to and get some relief.
On a personal level, practicing at the VA deepened my understanding of my own family’s military experience. Although my father, uncles, and cousins served in different wars, they rarely spoke about it. Caring for veterans helped me better understand how military service shapes not only the individual, but entire families. Practicing in the VA strengthened my empathy and compassion for everyone touched by those who served.
Was the concept of holistic healthcare new to the VA at that time, or did you have an opportunity to help VA officials to see its value in action?
Dr. Johnson: The concept of holistic healthcare was not entirely new at my facility. Being in California, many providers were already more familiar with integrative and whole-person approaches than I had initially anticipated. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of openness, education, and clinical curiosity among my colleagues.
This particular VA also had a strong research foundation and a thoughtful, evidence-informed culture. Rather than introducing a new concept, my role often felt like participating in and contributing to an environment that was already evolving, where holistic care was understood not as an alternative but as a meaningful complement to traditional medical treatment.
As a chiropractic resident advisor, you supervised 13 residents over the years. What advice did you share regularly with DCs new to the VA?
Dr. Johnson: As a residency director, I regularly reminded residents of the rarity and time-limited nature of this opportunity and encouraged them to fully engage with the VA’s unique resources, mentorship, and interdisciplinary environment. I also urged them to use the experience to clarify their career direction: clinical, academic, or research, so we could support their growth. Most importantly, I emphasized understanding the lasting impact of military service on veterans’ lives and delivering care grounded in compassion, respect, and kindness.
You were one of the first women and the first Black chiropractor hired by VA. Would you like to share anything about what it was like to blaze those particular trails?
Dr. Johnson: I was the first African American chiropractor hired by the VA, though not the only woman. Dr. Pamela Wakefield was also part of the original inaugural group. Having often been “the first” in my career, that aspect felt familiar. What impacted me more was that I was the first chiropractor hired by the VA in the entire state of California, and our facility and our SCU (our supportive academic affiliate for our student clerkship and residency program), seemed to delight in that accomplishment, like me.
As I stepped into that role, I was also very mindful of the responsibility it carried. It was important to me that the program’s success stand on its own merits and that neither my race nor my gender would ever be associated with its outcomes. That awareness strengthened my resolve to fully engage to ensure its success.
What stood out most was the VA’s long-standing commitment to fairness and opportunity in its hiring practices. As a federal institution shaped by equal opportunity principles, the environment here in California felt genuinely inclusive. During orientation, I saw people of all backgrounds, including individuals beginning their new VA careers later in life, which I found refreshing and affirming. I felt welcomed and valued for my work.
What do you want people to know about chiropractic in the VA?
Dr. Johnson: What I want others to know about chiropractic in the VA is that it exists because of collaboration, perseverance, and, most importantly, advocacy from veterans themselves, who fought to have access to chiropractic care. The program is the result of the hard work of many dedicated individuals across disciplines who believe in a more comprehensive approach to veterans’ health.
I am deeply grateful to have been part of that effort. Receiving this award feels like a meaningful punctuation mark at the end of my VA career, and it leaves me with immense appreciation for the veterans I served, the colleagues I worked alongside, and the shared mission that made this work so fulfilling.
