[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/WHOIntern09.jpg” caption=”McMaster alumna Jennifer Nash is an intern at the World Health Organization. Photo courtesy of FHS. “]As a student in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program, Jennifer Nash learned about the importance of evidence-based medicine in health policy and clinical practice.

Now as an intern at the World Health Organization, the McMaster alumna and recent chiropractic graduate is putting her knowledge into action as she assists in shaping international guidelines in evidence-based traditional medicine.

Traditional medicine, also known as complementary and alternative medicine, encompasses a variety of fields including acupuncture, Chinese medicine, chiropractic medicine and herbal medicine.

“I think that my experience in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program really gave me a solid appreciation for evidence-based medicine and taught me to accept nothing less,” said the 27-year-old who grew up in Grimsby.

A member of the inaugural B.H.Sc. class, Nash graduated from McMaster in 2004 and went on to earn her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto. During her post-graduate studies, she was involved with the World Congress of Chiropractic Students, which worked to establish an internship for chiropractic students at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Last summer, Nash, who now works as a chiropractor in Waterloo, Ont., was nominated to represent the group by submitting an application to the WHO for the position. She found out in December that she landed the three-month internship, making her only the second chiropractic intern – and the first Canadian – to be accepted into the program.

“Before last year, there had never been a chiropractic intern at the WHO,” said Nash, who started her internship in January. “In the past, interns were typically medical doctors or public health or health policy students, so this was something really new and exciting.”

As an intern in the WHO Traditional Medicine program, Nash is assisting in the preparation of new global guidelines and technical documents related to the training, safety and regulation of evidence-based traditional medicine. The position is unpaid, so she has been fundraising to cover her costs.

“If I can make just one person stop and think about the significant role that chiropractors, and other traditional or complimentary and alternative medicine practitioners, can play in integrated health-care and public health initiatives, especially in underserved areas, then it makes all my efforts worthwhile” she said.

For more information about Nash's internship or to learn about her fundraising efforts, visit http://www.canadianchiropractor.ca/content/view/1312.