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April 30, 2025 • 18 mins

Zelin Zhou has had an active year in chiropractic research. He participated in the 2024 Research Paper Symposium at Life University, received a scholarship as the winner of the 2024 National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) Annual Student Scholarship Essay Competition and recently presented at the 2025 Association of Chiropractic Colleges Research Agenda Conference (ACCRAC) held in New Orleans. We are so excited to see what he does next! This special research series episode is co-hosted by Erin Gilligan, Project Coordinator for the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning (CETL).

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S1 (00:30):
Good afternoon everybody. My name is Doctor Veronica Garcia Chaparro,
and we're back with the podcast of Living Life, A
Life View and the special series of research. And I
am joined by my amazing co-host.

S2 (00:41):
I'm Erin Gilligan, and today we are pleased to welcome
Celine Zhao.

S3 (00:46):
Yes, my name is Jolene Zhao, and I'm very happy
to come here and to take this podcast with all
of you here. Yes.

S1 (00:55):
I'm so excited to have you. You are definitely a very, um,
driven individual on campus. You are a student, correct?

S3 (01:04):
Yes. I'm now right now is a seventh in the
seventh quarter, and I'm still doing the order study right now.

S4 (01:12):
Yeah, yeah.

S1 (01:13):
And your seventh quarter of the chiropractic program?

S3 (01:15):
Yes.

S1 (01:16):
Okay. So what inspired you to become to become a chiropractor?

S3 (01:21):
Uh, yeah, that that is a very interesting story. And
it brings me back to the very beginning. Why I
want to become a chiropractor. It's interesting because I'm from China,
and in our country, the chiropractic is not a very
famous profession there. And, uh, but like before coming to university,

(01:41):
I used to be a spine surgeon before, and I
got my, I, I had already earned like two Bachelor
of Medicine degrees and one master's degrees before, and I
had done a lot of spine surgeries with, uh, my
instructor of master's degree, and at that time I just

(02:04):
found out a very interesting point, which is like a
lot of doctors, especially for the surgeons, they they believe
that a surgery is a kind of thing which can
address a, a, a wide, a wide range of, uh,
like disease. And, uh, but I think it's the sense

(02:24):
is not true like that. And uh, so I want
to find a just like, uh, because, you know, like
in outpatient clinic, the surgeon always prescribe some pain relief
drug to those patients, and, but the pain relief drugs
can always just relieve this pain for a short of time.

(02:46):
But after a long time, just the pain will come
back to the patient. Right? And it's not a very
effective way. And so that I want to find a
very effective way to do the conservative treatment. So but
I have not a very obvious clue for it. So I,
I had done a lot of research online and I

(03:10):
searched a lot and I finally chiropractic is where the
car came out to me and I just like I
want to know more about it. So I went to
a social media which I found a friend and he's studying.
He was studying in Life University and I would give

(03:32):
my big shout out to him. And his name is
Doctor Yuhang Yao. He's he is now working at Hong
Kong right now.

S4 (03:40):
Wow.

S3 (03:41):
And he just graduated last year. And he introduced a
lot about chiropractic to me. And he he told me
he told me like, what is chiropractic? What the American
chiropractor usually work as their daily life. And so Uh,
and uh, beside of him are another very important person

(04:03):
for me to let me, let me into this profession
is doctor Lee. And he is also a life illuminator.
And he's very famous, like a content creator. And he
is a former Olympic athlete therapist before.

S4 (04:23):
Wow.

S3 (04:24):
Yes. And uh, and from him, he also told me
a lot about like I got a lot of information,
background information about the Life University from him. And so
after that I collected enough information about what is chiropractic.
So I decided to go abroad and come to here

(04:46):
to study.

S4 (04:46):
Wow.

S2 (04:47):
That's fantastic. So seven quarters in, are you finding those
answers to.

S4 (04:51):
Yeah, I'm still trying. Still. Fine. Yeah.

S3 (04:54):
But I think I almost, uh, found something just like I,
I had already know a lot about many techniques like
what is the gonstead or what is the Thompson? And
so right before I came to the United States, I
don't know everything about that.

S4 (05:12):
Right, right. Yes.

S1 (05:14):
That's so I think it's really beautiful to know that
in China, it's clearly it's getting to people, it's getting
to professionals and healthcare. Right. We are shaking the world
so that more people know about chiropractic and have access
to chiropractic. I think that's really important and really beautiful.
And in one of the main reasons why we have

(05:35):
you here today, to learn a little bit more about
who you are is because you have dabbled into research. Yes.
So let's talk about your research, um, career. How where
are you within chiropractic and research?

S3 (05:50):
Yes. Uh, for the research part, I had already conducted
a lot of research.

S4 (05:56):
Before.

S3 (05:57):
I came to the United University. And I will thank
thank Doctor Crone, who is right now my advisor of
my research track. And she, uh, I first came to
here and I want to know if there is an
opportunity for me to to do the research here, and I,

(06:21):
I found Doctor Crone from the our school website and. Yeah.
And I try to connect her and, uh, she, she
is really nice and she tell me how to apply
for the scholarship. And, uh, after that, I just submitted
my application, and, uh, I just asked her if Doctor

(06:45):
Crown can be my advisor at that time, and then she, uh,
she she felt very good. And she said, uh, I
can be your advisor. And I was so excited, and
I'm so appreciative that I can, uh, to collaborate with
her to do this research and, uh. Yes. That's it.

S2 (07:07):
I think the chance to partner with the faculty or
staff member on some of these research projects is really exciting.
And the fact that you found somebody that you feel
real connection with is really, really great.

S4 (07:17):
Yeah.

S3 (07:17):
Because, uh, as I first came to the United States and,
you know, like, language is a very big barrier for
me to communicate with others. So, um, but the Doctor
Crunch is very nice person, and she is very patient to, like,
she will sit on there and just listen to what

(07:38):
I want to say to him, to her. Sorry. And, uh,
so I feel very comfortable when I have the head
of the conversation with her. So I think she's really
very good advisor.

S4 (07:52):
Yeah.

S2 (07:53):
And can you tell us a little bit more about
what research you're doing and your research project currently?

S3 (07:58):
Yes, I will like my research to. The name of
my research is the Bibliometric study about how chiropractic treatments
in musculoskeletal conditions. And it's just like, uh, we have, uh,
already have a lot of like scientists, chiropractic scientists and, uh,

(08:23):
few doctors who dedicated themselves into start, uh, study the
research something and especially in musculoskeletal disease this field. But, uh,
there were few of them, just like, uh, to analyze
the or qualified how many publications have already published there?

(08:45):
And my job is, uh, our job was to like
to conduct a, uh, analyze analyzation and, uh, like, visualization
about how to make those, uh, publications like to study
the trends of. Of this the study of this field.
And we want to know like, uh, like the collaborations

(09:09):
about each countries. And we want to know about which, uh,
which author is the most actively, uh, like published, uh,
who just like to publish a lot of big amount
of publications in there. And, uh, we want to know
the like the forecast, like the results forecast. What is

(09:34):
that right now or what is that before. And that
is the main study we were doing.

S4 (09:41):
Yeah.

S1 (09:41):
That's awesome. And and is this the is this project
this this research study, the one that you've presented at
the symposium with a poster as well?

S4 (09:50):
Yes.

S1 (09:51):
How was that experience?

S3 (09:52):
I felt like, uh, it was a very wonderful and
exciting experience for me because, uh, I conducted a lot
of research before, but this was the very first time
I do the presentation, especially in front of a lot
of people, you know, like that. Um, that was really

(10:13):
nervous for me right before I came to that event,
but I just tried to encourage myself. Just like you
want to tell others, share with others what what is
your idea and and to tell others, um, like, uh,
what is the most important point about your study? And, uh,

(10:37):
so I went there and, uh, a lot of, like,
faculty members came to me and to listen to me,
and I feel like, yes, my research has, uh, others to, like, focus, like,
pay attention to. I think that was very good. Like,
I really did something other people will, uh. Who is

(10:59):
willing to know. And I think that is a very
good experience, and I really recommend others who have not
come to this, uh, event. If you have the opportunity
in the future just to come to this event, it's
really good. No matter you are a researcher or you
are just a visitor.

S4 (11:19):
Mhm.

S3 (11:20):
Yes.

S2 (11:20):
And this is the Life University Symposium.

S4 (11:22):
Yes.

S3 (11:23):
It's a Life University symposium. And it's my first it
was my first poster presentation.

S4 (11:29):
That's awesome. That's great.

S1 (11:30):
Congratulations.

S4 (11:31):
Thank you so much.

S2 (11:32):
Are there other other other poster presentations in your future?

S3 (11:35):
Oh, yeah. I will just have the, uh, because my
study of this time just it was selected by the ACC, IAC,
which is a very big conference. We know in the
United States, it will be held in New Orleans this March.
And I will be there and to do another poster there.

(11:57):
And so And I need to thank doctor, doctor Stephanie, uh,
Sullivan and Doctor Bernard Russell. They all of them, they
gave a lot of advice to tell me how to
revise my abstract and to make them to make it
become a very perfect and so that it has the

(12:18):
opportunity to let the conference to accept it.

S2 (12:21):
And do you feel more confident going into this one,
having done the Life University Symposium?

S4 (12:25):
Yes.

S3 (12:26):
It's just like a training.

S4 (12:28):
For me to.

S3 (12:30):
To do. And so this time I think I will
be better. Much better than than before. Yes.

S5 (12:36):
And and in top of all of that, you.

S1 (12:39):
Were also the recipient of the Nbce 2024 Annual Student
Scholarship Essay Award. Tell me about that experience. How did
you even get involved in that?

S3 (12:49):
Yeah, that that was a very interesting experience because just like, uh,
you know, like our anatomy Me, Professor Doctor Harmon. He
just emailed us there. There was a computation from NBC,
and if you have some idea, you can just go

(13:11):
there to just submit your essay to them. And, uh,
so I, I went to the website and I just
found this topic is, um, just like you can, you can,
you can have, uh, you can just like, uh, no
matter what topic you are into, you can just write

(13:31):
it and to submit to them.

S4 (13:33):
And, uh.

S3 (13:35):
I my, my title is just like, uh, how the how,
how to make the chiropractic combined with the artificial intelligence,
because I think it's a very important thing to follow
the advanced step of the world. And I think, uh,

(13:55):
artificial intelligence is the future and though our chiropractic cannot,
cannot be obsolete and we need to follow tightly about
the future of the technique. So I, I just want,
want to, uh, write something about it and just I
did it.

S2 (14:16):
Was there a research component to that as well to
researching what you wanted to write in the essay or.

S3 (14:22):
Oh, it's a separate part.

S4 (14:24):
Separate part, yes.

S3 (14:25):
Just like this is an essay is just like a
it's not a so strict as.

S4 (14:30):
A published article.

S3 (14:32):
But it also needs you to have a very creative,
critical thinking and creative thinking about to to write your
idea about it.

S4 (14:43):
So okay.

S3 (14:44):
I just collected I a lot of like literature to
do it. And I put a lot of like numbers
and the exact number for that to make it become
very scientific. Fake.

S2 (14:59):
I think that's great that you're able to do an
essay so well that you win this competition, and you're
able to do your research so well that you're now
presenting at ACC rack.

S4 (15:07):
Yes.

S2 (15:08):
So I think those are two slightly different approaches to academics.
But I think you're excelling obviously in both of them.

S4 (15:15):
Thank you. Thank you so much.

S1 (15:16):
In in a language that is not your native.

S4 (15:19):
Yeah.

S1 (15:19):
Clap you for that because.

S4 (15:21):
That's.

S1 (15:21):
Extraordinary.

S3 (15:22):
Thank you. I just, uh, I think, uh, I want
to I want to say this to all the international
students who's in here. Just like a language is not
a language. Maybe is a very big part of your
barrier to access the, like, knowledge or something. But, uh,

(15:42):
if you really have a, uh, very, like, stable, very, um, strong, uh, uh,
will to to know the things, you can just step
over it.

S4 (15:57):
Mhm. Mhm.

S2 (15:59):
Yeah that's great.

S4 (16:00):
Yes I.

S1 (16:01):
Love that. I'm so proud of you.

S3 (16:02):
Thank you so.

S4 (16:03):
Much. Definitely proud.

S1 (16:04):
Of.

S4 (16:04):
You.

S1 (16:05):
Yeah it's definitely it's such a it's such a refreshing
point of view as well. Um, to understand that you
had professor had the opportunity to believe in yourself, to
have a conversation with professors like Doctor Christy Kwan, and
then to be able to reply to an email from
Doctor Herman about, hey, this is just an opportunity. And

(16:25):
stepping into that opportunity, that speaks volumes, because I think
that's that's what sets chiropractors apart is whenever you see
an opportunity and you go for it out of the
place of, hey, I don't know what's going to happen afterwards,
but I know that if we follow this structure and
we follow what we're supposed to be doing, great things
will come. So just even the opportunity of you coming

(16:46):
to the United States to study chiropractic, having an amazing,
successful career in your previous country. Yes, it's it's already
such a big step. But continue making those steps because
you're only halfway through the program. So that means that
there's halfway more of greatness that we're so excited to
see you and to clap and to cheer for you.
So congratulations.

S4 (17:06):
Thank you so much.

S2 (17:07):
Even the research that went into went into the decision
to come here to come to life. You consulted with
people in the profession that you knew, that you respected.
And so I think there's just you have this mindset of, yes,
what are the possibilities and how can I make that happen?

S4 (17:21):
Yes.

S2 (17:21):
And that definitely comes through in your work and in
your conversation today.

S4 (17:25):
Yes. Thank you.

S1 (17:26):
Possibilities are endless.

S4 (17:29):
That's right, that's right.

S1 (17:29):
Well, thank you so much for your time. We really
appreciate you. Good luck at your next poster symposium, which
is around the corner.

S4 (17:36):
Thank you so much. Yes.

S1 (17:38):
And we'll see you very soon. And we'll see you
guys on the next episode of Living Life at Life. You.
This is the research of series. Take care.

S4 (17:46):
Bye bye. Hi.
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