Our 2019 Person of the Year: Dr. Sherry McAllister – Chiropractic's PR Machine
Editorial Staff
After almost 125 years, the chiropractic profession in the U.S. enjoys a sustained advertising and public-relations effort that is changing the way consumers, other health care providers and decision-makers think about chiropractic. Our PR machine is led by Dr. Sherry McAllister, a doctor of chiropractic who, while maintaining a full-time practice, is crisscrossing the country to share the truth about the effectiveness of chiropractic at every open venue.
Through her leadership, the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress has purposefully grown and developed into the chiropractic PR machine we have so desperately needed. This has unified the profession's public-relations efforts, with 26,000 doctor members spanning 42 chiropractic organizations; and national chiropractic associations from Ireland, Malaysia, Portugal and South Africa, among others. The foundation provides expertise and resources to promote chiropractic in partnership with our chiropractic colleges, national and state associations.
Here is the short list of what Sherry and her team have accomplished in 2019:
Live Events
Sherry not only spoke at 13 international, national and local chiropractic events; she also presented chiropractic to the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, the Workers' Compensation Expo and the National Association of Worksite Health Centers (NAWHC) Onsite Health Center Round Table.
Radio, Digital and Print Media
As the first chiropractic member of Forbes magazine's Nonprofit Council, Sherry is consistently contributing to articles with other members of the council on the Forbes website.1 This year, additional media appeared in: America's Health Insurance Plans' AHIP Solutions and AHIP Wellness, Bleacher Report, The Toledo Blade, CBS 21, CantonRep.com, Dance Network, eHealthRadio, Employee Benefit News, Gracefully, Health Professional Radio, HealthcareNOW Radio, Long Island Press, Managed Healthcare Executive, Romper, Payson Roundup, Scottsdale Health, Tribune Chronicle, Willow Glen Times and Yahoo! Finance.
External Advertising
Working with other chiropractic organizations, Sherry and her team placed advertising in multimedia formats:
Billboards – Buffalo N.Y., Louisiana (six billboards), Montana (seven), North Dakota (10), Orlando, Fla. (two) and Syracuse N.Y.
Magazine Ads – Employee Benefit Adviser, Journal for Nurse Practitioners, MLB All-Star Game Program, Manchester Journal,Prevention Magazine, Seven Days,USA Today,The Wall Street Journal andWomen's Running Magazine.
Train Wraps – Salt Lake City, Utah (three months), Sacramento, Calif.
National & International Recognition
Perhaps more important are the accolades lauded on Sherry and the foundation for their 2019 campaigns by the public-relations world outside of chiropractic:
PR News' Top Women in Healthcare Awards – Dr. Sherry McAllister was named a co-winner in the Directors Category for PR News' inaugural list of Top Women in Healthcare for 2019.2
PR World Awards – Awarded gold for 2019 in the Achievement of the Year, Healthcare – Others category, for "Raising Awareness of Chiropractic as a Safe, Drug-free Approach."3
Ragan's 2019 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards – Awarded finalist/honorable mention in the Community Outreach category for "Save Lives, Stop Opioid Abuse, Choose Chiropractic" campaign.
As she prepares for chiropractic's 125th birthday in 2020, Sherry and her team have just finished shooting the chiropractic television commercial that will appear during next year's Summer Olympic Games. Thanks to the foundation's partnership with the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, chiropractic's commercial is expected to appear five times during the airing of the Olympics.4
For all of the above and much, much more, we are proud to honor Dr. Sherry McAllister as Dynamic Chiropractic's 2019 Person of the Year.
References
"Chiropractic Represented on the Forbes Nonprofit Council." Dynamic Chiropractic, October 2018.
"Chiropractic Tops the List at PRNews Awards." Dynamic Chiropractic, September 2019.
"A Gold for Chiropractic at PR World Awards." Dynamic Chiropractic, October 2019.
"Chiropractic to Make History at 2020 Olympics." Dynamic Chiropractic, October 2019.
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