About
I was born and raised in the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York. My parents were both teachers. My father taught physical education and coached cross country and track and field at both the high school and collegiate levels. My mother was an art teacher and painter. I'm the second of 5 children with 3 brothers, Joe, Peter, David and one sister Molly. I competed in football, basketball and track and field during high school and track and field during college.
An extremely important experience for the family occurred when Peter contracted Leukemia in 1969. I watched Peter go through the medical model of treatment for the illness which included radiation, chemo and multiple bone marrow transplants. Peter lost his hair, suffered greatly and then he passed away in 1972 from the disease. This caused me to wonder if there is a better way to create and or maintain health and started a lifetime pursuit in the study of natural health.
In this context I attended the State University of New York at Binghamton from September 1978-December 1981. I also attended the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic from January 1983-December 1986. I attained a Bachelor of Science in Biology degree and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.
My first experience working as a chiropractic physician was at Pacific Health Services in Los Angeles California. PHS was a multi-disciplinary healthcare facility that had medical doctors (neurologists, orthopedists, general practitioners and psychiatrist's), psychologists, nurses and chiropractors. The office treated mostly personal injury and workmen's compensation injuries and I was in charge of the physical rehabilitation department. I worked there from April 1988-May 1990. I was seeing anywhere from 25-50 patients per day and gained important experience during this time.
In June of 1990 I moved with my wife Jenny to Santa Fe and joined Theo Anderson and Associates. This was another multi-disciplinary healthcare office that included chiropractic, acupuncture, counseling and rolfing. I worked there until March 1992. This experience was more what I wanted to be doing with my career. We had a full homeopathic, herbal, vitamin and supplement pharmacy that I learned to use. I had received a basic 100 hour course in applied kinesiology at chiropractic college, but I deepened my understanding of this work during this period.
On August 8, 1990 my daughter was born and is my only child. She graduated from New York University in June 2012 with a degree in theatre. She presently lives in Los Angeles and works coordinating and designing costumes for Mattel toys.
In April 1992 I opened Back to Health Chiropractic here in Santa Fe. I have been in solo private practice since that time. During this period my wife and I divorced. Jenny later remarried and moved back to Los Angeles in 1999 with my daughter.
In April 2000 I moved to Santa Barbara California to be closer to my daughter and more involved in her upbringing. The next year was a very challenging time and the stress of moving, starting my practice over in a new place and mercury toxicity from many amalgam dental fillings led to a physical and psychological "breakdown". I stopped working in April 2001 due to illness.
In June things were going downhill and I went to bed one night and awakened in the intensive care unit of Cottage hospital the next day with an IV in my arm. A friend had come by to check on me and couldn't wake me up and found my pulse was about 40. She called the ambulance and I spent the next 3 weeks in the hospital. I had gone from my usual weight of 170 lbs to 120 lbs on my 6'2" frame. The hospital would only release me to a nursing home where I would spend the next 3 months gaining strength and weight. I thought I would never be a chiropractor again. In October 2001 I moved back east to Cape Cod and rented a home on pleasant bay with my mother. My mom was diagnosed with colon cancer and we spent the next year helping each other recover.
In July of the the next year I had healed considerably and decided to fly out to California. I had to clear out the storage unit my friends had filled with all my belongings. I bought a car, sold, threw out or gave away most of my possessions and headed east. On my way back to Cape Cod I stopped in Santa Fe to visit old friends. I awakened on a couch to find on the coffee & table next to me a book on playing cards as tools of divination. I had never thought much about destiny from a playing card. But I picked up the book and found my birthday matched with the eight of spades which was entitled the healer card. As I read the meaning of the card it struck deeply in my being that my life is about helping others to heal through heartfelt service. It warned that if my life strayed from this path I would suffer. Later that day it rained for the first time in months in Santa Fe and a double rainbow arched its way over the Sangre de Christo Mountains. I had forgotten how beautiful Santa Fe could be.
My next stop was visiting another friend in Denver. We decided to go hiking up in Boulder. After the hike we went down to Pearl Street for some food. Pearl Street is an outdoor walking mall in the old section of Boulder that has many street performers all summer long. While looking for a restaurant we came upon a crowd watching a man who states, "for my finale I will throw this normal playing card onto the roof of that 3 story building." He has a little kid come up and pick one card from the deck. He takes and throws it. When it is about to go on the roof a big gust of wind blows it back toward the crowd. It spins and rises and falls and lands face down about 6 feet in front of me. I walked over and picked it up to find the eight of spades in my hand.
I returned to Cape Cod and continued healing and trying figure out what to do next.
In November 2002 I moved back to Santa Fe and reopened Back to Health Chiropractic. I have both gotten back to health myself and helped many other people to do the same. In chiropractic we believe there is a universal intelligence that manifests in all things and expresses itself as innate intelligence within each of us. This innate wisdom is what heals us and I've dedicated my life to helping others find and nourish it.
In March of 2005 I met Mary Jane House and we dated until September 2012 when we were married here in Santa Fe. Mary Jane is a personal trainer and sculptor. In October 2009 I completed my studies and passed a national examination to become an advanced practice chiropractor here in New Mexico. This post graduate degree allows me to do injection therapies with natural substances and prescribe limited medications.
In August 2012 the office name was changed to Back to Health Wellness Center in order to more fully represent the services offered here. In addition to chiropractic we offer applied kinesiology, nutritional response testing, therapeutic exercise and spinal rehabilitation, advanced muscle integration technique, nasal specific technique, trigger point injections, biopuncture, prolotherapy, spinal decompression, custom made foot orthotics, interferential therapy and massage therapy. In May 2015 I completed my studies and passed the written and practical examinations to become a certified Advanced Muscle Integration Technique practitioner.
I will never stop learning and I think that is why we call this work a practice. My latest undertaking is epigenetics and nutrigenomics. It will be integrated into what I already do over the next year. I will continue to learn and practice the art, philosophy and science of things natural until the day I pass over.
I had been an active participant in The Celebration since 1993. The celebration is a non-denominational spiritual community here in Santa Fe. I have been a facilitator, speaker, reader and a regular host during this time. While living in Santa Barbara I was a member of Unity Church and when living in Cape Cod I was a member of the Unitarian Church. I've actively participated in men's groups since 1993. In my spare time I love to hike, bike, camp, body surf, and enjoy rooting for the New York Yankees and New York Jets.
