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Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD, principal investigator for the Spinal Manipulation and Patient Self-Management for Preventing Acute to Chronic Back Pain Trial, will be the speaker at the Oct. 29 Goldstein Lecture.

The free event is being hosted by UNT Health Fort Worth’s Osteopathic Research Center. It will begin at noon. Bronfort will be unveiling the results of the study, also known as the PACBACK Trial, during the lecture.

Bronfort is a longstanding member of the Cochrane Collaboration’s Low Back Pain Editorial Group and has served on many other national and international committees pertaining to low back pain, including those sponsored by the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health.

“This year’s lecture is special because it brings to fruition the research idea that was originally conceived at the Osteopathic Research Center,” said John Licciardone, DO, MS, MBA, UNT Health regents professor and ORC executive director. “In conjunction with NIH, the ORC convened a small group of experts in 2013, including Dr. Bronfort, to begin designing the plan for what ultimately became the PACBACK Trial.”

The PACBACK Trial was funded by a $14 million NIH grant to study the effectiveness of spinal manipulation and patient self-management in preventing pain progression. In addition to Bronfort and Licciardone, researchers at the University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, Oregon Health Sciences University and University of Washington served on the Study Leadership Team.

The Goldstein Lecture

The Goldstein Lecture Award was established in 2012 to honor Murray Goldstein, DO, MPH. It is funded by the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation in Columbus, Ohio.

“Dr. Goldstein is a remarkable man,” Licciardone said. “Getting to honor him through this award and lecture is so special for everyone in the ORC.”

“This year’s Goldstein Lecture also is a special event as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Goldstein’s landmark publication titled ‘The Research Status of Spinal Manipulative Therapy,’” Licciardone said. “This 300-page monograph compiled during his tenure at the NIH represented the latest thinking on spinal manipulation before widespread access to electronic bibliographic databases and the advent of evidence-based medicine.”

Goldstein had an extraordinary career in public service and osteopathic medicine. He received the Purple Heart and Silver Star for his service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following his medical education, he completed a fellowship in neurology at the Mayo Clinic and then earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California School of Public Health at Berkeley.

In 1953, Goldstein was the first osteopathic physician appointed as a commissioned medical officer in the U.S. Public Health Service and was subsequently named an assistant surgeon general with the rank of rear admiral.

Goldstein served as director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke from 1982 to 1993, and then as director and chief operating officer of United Cerebral Palsy from 1993 to 2003.

His 1997 editorial, titled “A challenge to the profession: initiate evidence-based osteopathic medicine now,” was a driving force that led the American Osteopathic Association and other national organizations to eventually establish the ORC in 2002 as osteopathic medicine’s research center.

The Goldstein Lecture is offered at no cost as a Zoom webinar. To register, click here. For more information, contact Samantha Johnson at ORCstudyoperations@unthealth.edu.

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