Stephen Perle, associate professor of clinical sciences in the University of Bridgeport’s College of Chiropractic, is the American Chiropractic Association’s Academician of the Year.The honor and award was given to Perle at the ACA’s House of Delegates meeting September 3. Perle is one of the original faculty members of the college. He teaches ethics, soft tissue technique, critical evaluation of the literature and research methods. He’s also an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering, teaching ergonomics.
Why is he such a standout teacher? “This is what inspires me every day,” he said. “I think that when we are practicing, a patient trusts us with his or her life. That is both a huge responsibility and a profound honor. So when practicing, I had the ability to affect the
lives of many people. However, when teaching, researching and writing, the number of lives I can impact, either positively or negatively, is exponentially greater because now I affect those doctors who each will affect many people.”
Perle, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., attended Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY at Buffalo before going to Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena, outside Houston, where he was awarded his Doctor of Chiropractic in 1983. He established a private practice in New York, specializing in sports chiropractic, and was on the sports medicine staff of the New York Road Runner’s Club and the New York City Marathon until he left private practice and joined the faculty at UB in 1991. He remains involved in running, serving as triage captain at the ING NYC Marathon, and was chiropractic coordinator this year.
In 2002, he also earned a Master of Science degree in exercise sciences from Southern Connecticut State University.