Eric Hurwitz

Eric Hurwitz is Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health Sciences of John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. He graduated from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (Southern California University of Health Sciences) in 1988 and subsequently received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Epidemiology from UCLA. Dr. Hurwitz’s research interests include the epidemiology and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and chronic diseases; the interrelationships of psychosocial, behavioral, and immune factors in the etiology and prognosis of physical and psychological pain; the safety and effectiveness of therapeutic and preventive interventions; and methods in observational and clinical epidemiology. He has served as principal or co-investigator on several pioneering epidemiologic and health services research projects, including randomized clinical trials and systematic reviews of chiropractic care and other interventions for low-back and neck pain.

Eric has authored or coauthored six book chapters and more than 80 scientific articles in leading medical, chiropractic, and public health journals. The American Chiropractic Association named him 2003 Researcher of the Year, and with coauthors in 2006, received medical and interventional science awards from the North American Spine Society. Dr. Hurwitz and coauthors won the ISSLS Prize from the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine in 2006 and 2009.

Eric recently served on the Scientific Secretariat of The Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders, and is currently a member of the National Institutes of Health’s Behavioral Medicine, Interventions and Outcomes Study Section, Center for Scientific Review.

Research Interests

• Clinical outcomes and their measurement
• Evidence-based guidelines and models of care for spinal disorders
• Conservative management of spinal disorders – strategies and mechanisms of injury.