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Faculty

Faculty180 – Vita and Individual Profile Data Sheet

Hiwot A Melka, DC, BS

Fall 1980 - Fall 2120

Assistant Professor II

Los Angeles College of Chiropractic - Clinical Education

HiwotMelka@scuhs.edu

Current Position

  • Position: SCU Health Faculty

Biography

Hiwot Melka, D.C. a native from Ethiopia, received her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Northwestern University of Health Sciences as well as a BS in biology from Hamline University. Dr. Melka completed the Primary Spine Practitioner residency and certification program™ in 2018 at Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS). She currently serves as an assistant professor, practices as primary spine practitioner and supervising clinician at the SCU Health Center. Through this position, Dr. Melka applies an integrated and evidence-informed approach to spine care. Dr. Melka believes that a multidisciplinary approach to spine care is important to ensuring quality, individualized, and inclusive care which allows the active participation of patients and promotes long-term well-being. Topics of interest for research include spine care in low- and middle-income countries and world spine care.

Degrees

2015

D.C., Northwestern University of Health Sciences, Bloomington, Minnesota, United States

2009

B.Sc., Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Professional Licensures (Healthcare)

DC, California, United States, 33484, Active, 2016, October 2023

DC, California, United States, 33484, Active, 2016, October 2024

DC, Minnesota, United States, 6163, Inactive, 2016, December 2024

Certifications (Healthcare)

University of Pittsburg, Primary Spine Practitioner, Primary spine care, 2018, 2024-04-23, 2027-02-02, Yes

American Heart Association, BLS/CPR/AED, CA02732, 2022-07-09, 2024-07-09

Southern California University of Health Sciences, PSP residency certificate , Primary Spine Care, 2018, 2018-02-01, 2027-02-02, Yes

American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians, Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner, 5883, 2017-11-04, 2025-01-01, Yes

Professional Licensures and Certifications (All other/non-healthcare)

Motivational Interviewing Training Certificate of completion, May 2022, Southern California University of Health Sciences, California, United States, 6-hours of synchronous training, 2 hours of asynchronous work, plus deliberate practice exercises on: eliciting change talk, resisting the righting reflex, listening reflectively, using empowerment strategies and structuring a motivational interview using the MI CompanionTM.

IPEC faculty development virtual institute certificate of completion, May 2021, Interprofessional Education Collaborative, District of Columbia, United States, IPEC Faculty Development Virtual Institute
Building a Framework for IPE for Collaborative Practice & Health Equity May 18, 20, 25, and 27, 2021

Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions

Journal Article

Completed/Published

Melka, H. A.; Russell, R.; Whedon, J.; Haldeman, S. Chiropractic Practice in the Continent of Africa: A Structured Online Survey of 608 Chiropractors. 2021, 44, 280–288.
Melka, H. A.; Rivera-Melo, H.; Jordan, S.; Hwang, H.; Whedon, J. Cervical Vertebral Body Erosion Due to Vascular Abnormality: A Case Report. Journal of chiropractic medicine 2020, 19, 65–69.

Poster Presentation

Completed/Published

Melka, H. A.; Russell, R.; Khorsan, R.; Whedon, J. M.; Haldeman, S. [Attachment]The Literature on Treatment Approaches Utilized in the Management of Low Back Pain Inthe Continent of Africa: A Scoping Review. ACC RAC 2023, 2023.

Presentation

Completed/Published

Melka, H. A.; Khorshan, raheleh. The Literature on Treatment Approaches Utilized in the Management of Low Back Pain in the Continent of Africa: A Scoping Review. 17TH WFC BIENNIAL CONGRESS, 2023.

Honors and Awards

Spring 2019 - Spring 2019

National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) best scientific paper award, 2019, ACC RAC, Clinical research award

Spring 2023 - Ongoing

ACC RAC 2023 research award, 2023, NBCE, clinical and basic science research award recipient

Professional Membership

Summer 2016 - Ongoing

North American Spine Society, May 2016

Spring 2022 - Ongoing

California Chiropractic Association, April 2022

Fall 2017 - Ongoing

American Chiropractic board of sports physicians, November 2017

Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes

Our Value: Integrative Health, Inclusivity

I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.

 

Brianna Hadley

MSPA Class of 2022

Our Value: Integrative Health

One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.

My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.

Dr. Jamie Kuljis

Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

Our Value: Integrative Health, Inclusivity

"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."

Portia Harris

Student, Ayurveda Program

Our Value: Evidence-Based Practice

Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.

On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.

Jordan Vega

Student, Doctor of Chiropractic

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