Dr. Rob Scott, president of Life University, has announced he is “stepping down from my role as president,” effective March 31, 2025. Dr. Scott, the university’s fifth president for the past eight years, gave personal reasons for the decision, and said he initiated the discussion with Life’s board chairman and executive committee in September 2024.
Rob Scott, DC, PhD
Dr. Scott will assume the position of Associate Vice President of Institutional Initiatives in April. In the announcement, he thanked “all my colleagues and friends at Life U for their support over the past 20 years,” and said he looks “forward to working collaboratively alongside you as we move into Life University’s next 50 years.”
In a separate announcement, the Life University Board of Trustees accepted Dr. Scott’s resignation. According to the release, Dr. Brian McAulay will serve as interim president beginning April 1, 2025, and is on campus now preparing for the formal transition.
Readers may recall that Dr. McAulay is no stranger to Life University or chiropractic leadership, serving as Life’s executive vice president and provost (2004-2013); president of Parker University and Sherman College of Chiropractic; president of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges; and chief academic officer for the Palmer Colleges and Logan University, among other prominent roles within the profession.
“I am excited to come home to the Life University community and to lead the institution during this period as we work together to create the future we know is possible," said Dr. McAulay in the board's announcement. "The fields of higher education and health care are both changing rapidly, and I believe that creates unique opportunities for Life University to grow and thrive. I very much look forward to working with the entire Life U community toward that end.”
Editor's Note: Read Chairman Dr. Kevin Fogarty's speech to the Board of Trustees regarding the presidential transition in its entirety here.
For chiropractors practicing today, Dr. Warren Hammer’s legacy is particularly visible in several areas that have become familiar components of modern musculoskeletal care: his early work with the Graston Technique and instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization; his extensive writing and teaching on functional soft-tissue examination and treatment; his role in bringing fascial manipulation to U.S. clinicians; and his decades spent educating chiropractors and other health professionals.
Financial pressure, enrollment declines and institutional challenges are emerging at several U.S. chiropractic colleges. Life Chiropractic College West's and Life University's struggles may be the most talked about but appear to be part of a larger story. And with recent USDE requirements threatening to hamstring federal student financing for DC degree programs, chiropractic education is facing questions for which it has no immediate answers.
The term standard of care is a legal term and a medical concept. There is no single, universally recognized standard of care document or authoritative reference. The medical concept defines what practitioners should do in practice. The legal term used determines whether a practitioner failed to meet that expectation. This article examines the standard of care for the doctor of chiropractic.
