Dr. Jaclyn Suffi, Division of Math & Natural Sciences
My background and education is as a Doctor of Chiropractic, probably not something you hear too often! When I was
in undergrad, I worked as a lab assistant in Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, and Microbiology and graduated with a degree in Biology before heading to grad school at Palmer College of Chiropractic.
As a chiropractor, I look at the spine and nervous system to see how they are affected by the muscles and joints around them. When I treat a patient, I palpate the joints of the spine. Any areas where there is restriction in the joint motion can cause muscle spasm, pain and irritation to the nerves. So those are the areas that I adjust and help to get moving properly.
In order to do this though, I had to develop an extensive understanding of the entire body’s systems and be able to apply their function to what I see in my patients every day. This transfers over to my classes in such a neat way though because it’s things I continue to study and practice every day! What I really love about teaching Biology and Anatomy & Physiology is showing the application of how all these details come together and relate to what we see or hear about in daily life. Like how genetic patterns affect children, or about the receptors in the heart, which then shows us how a certain medication works or why exercise is important or any host of other things.
The body is an amazing creation and I love getting to put some of the pieces together for myself and others by studying and applying this information.