The McAndrews Leadership Lecture: Origins.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the origins and rationale for the McAndrews Leadership Lecture and explains why the American Chiropractic Association honors George and Jerome McAndrews. DISCUSSION: George and Jerome McAndrews' backgrounds demonstrate their leadership contributions to the chiropractic profession. Jerome McAndrews, a chiropractor, held substantial leadership roles in the chiropractic profession. George McAndrews, a lawyer, administered a permanent injunction forbidding the American Medical Association's restraint of trade toward the chiropractic profession.
CONCLUSION: The American Chiropractic Association has established the McAndrews Leadership Lecture to honor their contributions to the chiropractic profession.

Introduction

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is a national professional organization established in 1962 that represents doctors of chiropractic in the United States. Its mission is “to preserve, protect, improve, and promote the chiropractic profession and the services they provide for the benefit of the patients they serve.” The ACA vision includes the following:

Collaboration with other health care disciplines and integration into all health care delivery models that enhance individual health, public health, wellness, and safety.

Change in public policy, legislative, and regulatory arenas, resulting in a more effective US health care system.

Improved health care access and freedom of choice of health care providers for the American people, without discriminatory obstacles.

Increased value of health care for patients, policymakers, and the public through the high professional and educational standards of the chiropractic profession.

Healthier and more productive lives for the American people.

The ACA convenes annually for its House of Delegates (HOD) meeting, typically in conjunction with its National Chiropractic Leadership Conference. The annual HOD meeting encompasses the governance and business of the ACA and development of policy. The National Chiropractic Leadership Conference is held annually for lobbying the US Congress in matters of chiropractic legislation and is attended by doctors of chiropractic from various states and students from the chiropractic colleges and universities in the United States.

The McAndrews Leadership Lecture

The McAndrews Leadership Lecture was created by the ACA to honor the McAndrews family, especially the substantial contributions by Jerry McAndrews, DC, and George McAndrews, JD, to the chiropractic profession over their lifetimes (Fig 1). In February 2015, the ACA HOD ratified a policy on the “Establishment of the Annual McAndrews Leadership Lecture” whereby it agreed to host an annual keynote address to its HOD on health care policy.

Fig 1

Jerry McAndrews, DC, and George McAndrews, JD. (Color version of figure appears in the online version.)

The speaker who is invited to deliver the McAndrews lecture is a living individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership capabilities throughout his or her career to advance the chiropractic profession on a national and/or international level. The invitee will have demonstrated a consistent history of selfless work and high ethical standards. The invitee will have contributed to advancing the chiropractic profession in areas of clinical expertise, research, policy, and/or politics on a broad level. The invitee embodies the values of the ACA, which include collaborating with others, promoting a more effective US healthcare system, supporting high professional and educational standards for the chiropractic profession, and contributing to healthier and more productive lives for the American people. The invitee need not be a doctor of chiropractic. The lecture is designed to provide inspiration, to stimulate thought, and to develop future leaders.

Honoree Backgrounds

Jerome F. McAndrews, DC, served as ACA’s vice president for professional affairs for 4 years, retiring in November 1995 while continuing to advance the profession as an official ACA media spokesperson and an expert advisor on managed health care and related issues.

In 2006, he was posthumously awarded ACA’s highest honor, Chiropractor of the Year, in light of more than 50 years of service to the chiropractic profession. His service beyond ACA included a variety of leadership positions such as president of Palmer College of Chiropractic, president of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges, vice president of the Council on Chiropractic Education, NCMIC board member, and executive vice president and director of the International Chiropractors Association. At the ceremony held at ACA’s HOD meeting in Scottsdale, AZ, his son Patrick McAndrews, DC, accepted the award on his behalf. Dr Jerry McAndrews’ enthusiastic presence in many and varied leadership roles entitles him to this honor.

George P. McAndrews, JD, came from a family of chiropractic physicians, including his father, sister, brother (Jerome), and daughter. George McAndrews may be best known throughout the chiropractic profession for his role as lead counsel in the Wilk v American Medical Association (AMA) et al case. This case was brought against the AMA and other parties for their attempt to contain and eliminate the chiropractic profession. It is important to note that George McAndrews took the case against the AMA when no other attorneys were willing to go against the powerful entity of the AMA.

Of great and ongoing importance to the chiropractic profession, according to George McAndrews, is that when AMA was found guilty in Wilk v AMA of restraint of trade, a permanent injunction order was issued to the AMA. The AMA was permanently enjoined from restricting the freedom of any AMA member or hospital from associating with chiropractors or chiropractic institutions. The Wilk court order was required to be published in JAMA and a copy sent to each member of AMA.

George McAndrews administers a permanent injunction that still is in effect today. It was common for the AMA HOD resolutions to suppress various groups, in addition to chiropractic physicians, which could possibly compete for patients. Evidence of the ongoing importance of the Wilk v AMA case is mentioned in lectures of significance to the chiropractic profession.

The Association for the History of Chiropractic at its 20th annual Conference on Chiropractic History held in San Antonio, TX, March 17-18, 2000, presented its Lee-Homewood award to George McAndrews. That award is given each year to an individual who has made a lifetime contribution to the chiropractic profession. George McAndrews has taken on many other lawsuits of importance to the chiropractic profession and has been a tireless advocate on chiropractic’s behalf while running his patent law firm in Chicago. The decision by ACA to honor George with this pronouncement is based on his courage and strong will in the face of such a formidable foe as the AMA.

Conclusion

The ACA is proud of the history of our profession in the United States and recognizes the legacy of the McAndrews brothers who helped to fight the battles necessary for our inclusion as a viable conservative health care delivery system. We hope that the annual McAndrews Leadership Lecture will inspire others to lead our profession to new heights.

Funding Sources and Potential Conflicts of Interest

No funding sources or conflicts of interest were reported for this study.