FACULTY PROFILE

Helping Students See the Light Through Chiropractic

Thomas Bergmann, DC, FICC, professor at Northwestern

A passion discovered. As a sixth-grade teacher in the
1970s in Chicago, Ill., Thomas Bergmann, DC, FICC, had
no knowledge of chiropractic. He had gone to college for
a zoology degree, and had hoped to attend graduate
school in Hawaii and study marine biology. He had a wife,
a child, and a dream to move near the ocean one day. But
soon, all that changed. On a whim, Dr. Bergmann took his
sixth-grade class on a field trip to the National College of
Chiropractic in Illinois. “After seeing the lab space, I got
excited about science again,” he recalls. After talking to
his wife and the admissions department at National
College of Chiropractic, he decided to go back to school.
Dr. Bergmann laughs, “I sold the house, sold the second
car, kept the kid, and went to school!”
Down under. After his graduation from National College
of Chiropractic in 1977, Dr. Bergmann accepted a position
in Melbourne, Australia, with the International College of
Chiropractic, now known as the Royal Melbourne Institute
of Technology School of Chiropractic. He and his family
moved there for three years while he helped form the
college’s brand-new chiropractic program. But after being
away from home for so long, the Bergmann family decided
to relocate one more time. “It was too hard to
maintain connection with our families. Depending on
daylight savings, the time difference between Australia
and the United States was 15 or 17 hours.” So they
moved to Minneapolis, Minn., in 1980.
Teaching at a top-notch school. Dr. Bergmann
worked in his own practice for three years. But to him,
working so consistently at his practice wasn’t fulfilling.
“Patients would come in complaining about an ailment,
I’d fix them, then they’d leave until the next time they had
another complaint. I’d rather teach others to help their
patients. It is a really rewarding experience to help others
learn the practice.” Until three years ago, Dr. Bergmann
maintained a part-time practice, but taught full time.
It’s obvious that teaching is a passion for Dr.
Bergmann. “Students change, their questions change;
it’s never boring! It’s fun to help students see the light,”
he says. And according to Dr. Bergmann, Northwestern is a
top-notch school. “I’ve seen chiropractic colleges in
Australia, Japan, Great Britain, Mexico, Brazil, and the
United States. Of course there are things that
Northwestern could learn from those schools, but we have
– by far – the best curriculum here,” he says.
A man of a thousand words. Not only has
Dr. Bergmann spent his time in chiropractic practice and
teaching, but he has also co-authored textbooks. Now
on the third edition of his first published textbook,
Dr. Bergmann says, “I like writing. It helps to keep me
current because I am always reviewing recent literature.
The rest of the faculty at Northwestern stays current too,
but I enjoy the process of stringing words together to
create a book.” He has authored “Chiropractic Technique
Principle;” “Mechanically Assisted Manipulation –
The Distraction Technique;” a book on Spanish phrases
for chiropractors, and has also written chapters in six
different books.
A man whose office décor proudly states: “Dare to be
Dull,” and “Out of it and Proud of It,” the self-proclaimed
“boring man” really seems anything but dull. With a
chiropractic practice under his belt, a long-standing
teaching career, the exciting experience of living abroad,
and the co-author of several books, Dr. Bergmann has
come a long way since that field trip to the National
Chiropractic College. He says, “You have to feel good
about what you do and who you’re around. At
Northwestern, we are going in a good direction.”
Thomas Bergmann, DC, FICC, professor at Northwestern