COCA’s New Life Members

At the recent AGM in October, Drs Bruce Walker and John Reggars were awarded life membership to COCA, in appreciation of the many years of service to COCA and its predecessor COMSIG (Chiropractic and Osteopathic Musculoskeletal Special Interest Group).

Dr Bruce Walker was the inaugural President of COMSIG in 1990 having been a co-founder of the organisation. In the early days of COMSIG, and in following years COCA, Bruce has proved to be a significant driving force for the organisation. He has assisted in steering the College through its early development which has seen it grow to a national organisation with over one thousand members nationally. His dedication to the College has not ceased despite his own ongoing commitment to further education, having obtained a Master of Public Health from Monash University in Melbourne in 1996. He has also recently completed his Doctorate in Public Health at James Cook University in Townsville. Bruce has been granted membership to the Spine Society of Australia, and is one of the few chiropractors who have been admitted to the Society. Bruce continues to contribute to COCA at Executive level and is involved in many of the sub-committees of the Executive. His focus has been to encourage the chiropractic and osteopathic professions’ continued grow and contribute to the body of evidence of musculoskeletal health-care, and through this, stake a place as a vital component of the health-care team.

From left: Peter Werth (President), Bruce Walker & John Jannese (Executive Director)

Our other newly admitted life member is Dr John Reggars who had the enormous task of filling the shoes left by Bruce when he stepped down as president in 1995. John proved to be a great leader in his own right and was largely instrumental in ensuring the growth in membership in the mid to late 90’s. This was largely facilitated by our highly successful conference in 1997 entitled The Back Pain Challenge featuring Professor Alf Nachemson as our keynote speaker. John also remains very active at Executive level and is on many of the sub-committees including the risk management sub-committee and is the chair of the insurance sub-committee. He manages to squeeze this in between a busy practice schedule and completing a PhD at Monash University. John has also recently been appointed to the Chiropractors Registration Board of Victoria.

From left: Peter Werth (President), John Reggars & John Jannese (Executive Director)

The College, its members and executive, as well as the professions in general owe a great debt of gratitude to both men for their dedication, inspiration and leadership of the College in its formative years. They both continue to contribute to the College’s objectives and are pivotal to COCA’s success.