Chiropractic Residency

The Mission of the VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System (VAFLHCS) Chiropractic Residency Program is to prepare chiropractic residents for clinical practice in hospitals or other medical settings, and/or academia, by providing them with hospital-based clinical training, interprofessional education, and scholarly activities.

· Residents will acquire postgraduate clinical experience in hospital-based chiropractic care

· Residents will provide supervised patient care at satisfactory levels of competence, to a broad population of musculoskeletal cases, most commonly spinal, in the context of collaborative team-based care

· Residents will gain experience in managing a range of complex/multimorbidity cases

· Residents will engage in interprofessional educational experiences with relevant medical, surgical and associated health specialties

· Residents will complete clinical rotations in primary care, physical medicine and rehabilitation, other relevant medical or surgical specialties, behavioral medicine and other associated health disciplines

· Residents will participate in scholarly activities to gain experience relevant to integrated practice and/or academia

· Residents will collaborate with other chiropractic residents to complete online didactic courses and group assignments

· Residents will attend scholarly presentations among available hospital and/or academic affiliate offerings

· Residents will engage in research activities, and/or present scholarly material, and/or clinical workshops to staff and/or trainees at VA and/or academic affiliate venues

Chiropractic Resident program completion rate

VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System:

· Canandaigua VA Medical Center: 400 Fort Hill Ave. Canandaigua, NY

· Rochester Clinton Crossings VA Clinic: 919 Westfall Road, Rochester, NY 14618

· Bath VA Medical Center: 76 Veterans Avenue Bath, NY 14810

Training takes place at the individual VA facility, and may also include other sites such as the chiropractic school or other affiliated locations.

The Canandaigua and Rochester chiropractic clinics are each composed of four exam/treatment rooms, the Bath clinic is composed of two exam/treatment rooms, all furnished with state-of-the-art exam/treatment tables, computers, and other necessary equipment. Library support through VAFLHCS and the VISN 2 Online Library is available, as well as library support through the academic affiliate Northeast College of Health Sciences.

Salary is adjusted annually by VA Office of Academic Affiliations, and ranges from $36,000 to $45,000 per year based on geographic location. Residents receive paid Federal holidays, and accrue vacation and sick leave. Residents are also eligible for life and health insurance. Residents are protected from personal liability while providing professional services at a VA health care facility under the Federal Employees Liability Reform and Tort Compensation Act, 28 U.S.C. 2679 (b)-(d).

Upon satisfactory completion of program requirements, the graduate will receive an official Certificate of Residency, and records will be maintained at the VAFLHCS and the VHA Chiropractic National Program Office.

Applicants must hold or be scheduled to receive a DC degree from a CCE-accredited school prior to the July 1 start date of the residency program. Licensure is not required prior to the start of the program. Accepted residents, prior to program completion, must obtain a full, active, and unrestricted chiropractic license in a State, Territory or Commonwealth of the US, or in the District of Columbia. Applicants must meet all VA employment requirements including US citizenship, and Selective Service registration when applicable.

The VA Finger Lakes Health Care System’s Chiropractic Residency participates in the national chiropractic residency common application and match process. 

The application process opens the first week in January each year. Applicants are assessed on characteristics such as academic background, relevant experience, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and telephone, video, and/or in-person interviews. Applicant rankings are made by a review committee including the residency director, DC faculty, and current DC resident.

Apply Here

https://natmatch.com/chiro/

Lindsay Rae, DC (Director)

Dr. Rae is a 2008 graduate of Northeast College of Health Sciences. She opened and operated a successful private practice, while also serving as a faculty member of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in the Family Medicine Department. She joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as a part time Clinician in 2012, selling her private practice in 2016 to pursue her VA career full time as Attending Clinician with VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System at the Rochester facility. She is a VA Chiropractic North Atlantic Regional Mentor. She is an Assistant Professor at the Northeast College of Health Sciences. She is the American Chiropractic Association's (ACA) Representative of the US Bone and Joint Initiative. She received the VA Finger Lakes Inaugural Woman of the Year award in 2021.

Christopher Farrell, MS, DC

Dr. Farrell is a 2008 graduate of Northeast College of Health Sciences, where he also attained a Master of Science in Clinical Nutrition. He maintained a private practice in a multidisciplinary medical setting until 2012. Dr. Farrell joined the Chillicothe, Ohio VA Medical Center in 2011, as part of a multidisciplinary pain management team. He held a faculty position as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine teaching manual manipulative therapies to interns and residents. In 2014 he joined the Canandaigua, NY VA Medical Center as a staff chiropractor and Northeast College of Health Sciences as an adjunct assistant professor in the VA teaching clinic. Dr. Farrell is certified in McKenzie Method® of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy® He also holds a certification in acupuncture and has an interest in integrative pain management. Dr. Farrell is the North Atlantic Regional Lead for the VA Chiropractic Field Advisory Committee.

Michael Allgeier, DC

Dr. Allgeier is a 2006 graduate of Northeast College of Health Sciences. In 2008 he began private practice and was the first chiropractic physician on medical staff of Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago, IL in the Department of Family Medicine. From 2013 to 2016 he co-founded and served as the medical director of Mercy Spine and Back Care, a multi-disciplinary, system-wide program to treat patients with spine pain and pathology. He has been an allied health staff member of AMITA Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago since 2016 in the Department of Rehabilitation. He has served as a consulting chiropractor for the Diamond Headache Clinic in-patient unit since 2019. He has been certified in the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy since 2011 and a certified primary spine practitioner through the University of Pittsburgh since 2018. He hasinterests in policy issues including chiropractic within mainstream systems of care and chiropractic within Medicare. He joined the Finger Lakes VA Medical Center in 2021.

Samantha Pritty, MS, DC

Dr. Pritty graduated from New York Chiropractic College, now known as Northeast College of Health Sciences, in 2020 where she also obtained a Master of Applied Clinical Nutrition. Post-graduation, Dr. Pritty completed the chiropractic residency program at VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System from 2021-2022. During residency, she obtained a 300 hour Contemporary Medical Acupuncture certification from McMaster University. Immediately after residency, she started working at the Cincinnati VA Health care system up until 2023 where she accepted a position to return to the Finger Lakes system. During her time in the Cincinnati VA, she worked closely with the pain team on Integrated Chronic Pain consults working with a Psychologist, Pharmacist, and Physical Therapist for a comprehensive whole health team approach. Dr. Pritty is a certified Empowered Relief instructor through Stanford University and has professional interests in chronic pain management specifically in an integrative approach with an emphasis of the biopsychosocial model.