Speak with an admissions advisor. 562-475-4604

Speak with an admissions advisor. 602-887-5780

Speak with an admissions advisor. 562-580-0525

Faculty

Faculty180 – Vita and Individual Profile Data Sheet

Charissa Douglas, DC, ATC

Fall 1980 - Fall 2120

Assistant Professor I

Los Angeles College of Chiropractic - Chiropractic Education

CharissaDouglas@scuhs.edu

Current Position

Position: University Facutly

Biography

Dr. Charissa Douglas is full time University faculty at Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS) and a board-certified Doctor of Chiropractic and Certified Athletic Trainer.  Dr. Douglas specializes in sports medicine and rehabilitation techniques and brings over 10 years of clinical experience working with athletes of all ages from youth sports to elite and professional teams.  

Prior to teaching at SCUHS, Dr. Douglas recently served as both an athletic trainer and chiropractor for the US Soccer Women's National Team (2019-2021), USA Softball's Women's National Team (2021), and has served as medical staff for various professional and elite events such as AVP Beach Volleyball tour, USA BMX National Championships, Track and Field World Championships, and USA Wrestling National Championships.  In addition, she was a member of the sports medicine staff at the XXXII Olympic Games in Tokyo and served as a COVID-19 Liason Officer for the Games.  Dr. Douglas still currently serves as a network medical provider for the U.S. Soccer Women's National Teams, USA Softball Women's National Team, and USA Water Polo Men's National Team.

Prior to her work with Team USA, Dr. Douglas spent 5 years serving first as a clinical athletic training student, and eventually worked her way up to a Certified Athletic Trainer at Mt. San Antonio College (2014-2021).  Her primary sporting assignment was football, but would frequently work with track and field, cross country, softball, men's and women's soccer.  

In her first year of receiving her athletic training certification, Dr. Douglas began her career at NCAA Division I Saint Mary's College of California (2015) working with women's soccer and softball teams as an athletic training fellow.  It was there she found her passion for chiropractic and decided to go back to school to expand her clinical skill set.  

Dr. Douglas earned her Bachelor of Arts in Athletic training degree from Azusa Pacific University in 2015, and earned her Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Southern California University of Helath Sciences.  She graduated with Sports Medicine Honors from SCUHS in 2019.  

Degrees

2019

D.C., Southern California University of Health Sciences, Whittier, California, United States

2015

B.A., Athletic Training, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California, United States

Professional Licensures (Healthcare)

DC, California, United States, 36310, Active, 2021, January 2025

ATC, California, United States, Active, 2015, December 2023

Certifications (Healthcare)

Graston Technique, Level 1 and 2, Soft Tissue Mobilization, 000000, 2017-10-20, 2024-02-29, Yes

Professional Licensures and Certifications (All other/non-healthcare)

Corrective Exercise Specialty, May 2014, NASM, California, United States, Corrective Exercise Specialty

Work Experience

2024 - Ongoing

Team Chiropractor, USA Water Polo, Walnut, California, United States

2021 - Ongoing

Chiropractic Consultant, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, California, United States

2020 - Ongoing

High Performance Staff, USA Softball, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

2019 - Ongoing

Network Medical Provider, United States Soccer Federation, Chicago, Illinois, United States

2014 - 2021

Certified Athletic Trainer, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, California, United States

Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes

I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

Brianna Hadley

MSPA Class of 2022

One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

 

Dr. Jamie Kuljis

Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."

Portia Harris

Student, Ayurveda Program

Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

 

Jordan Vega

Student, Doctor of Chiropractic

Getting Started

View our application requirements above or fill out a request for information to start speaking with an enrollment advisor today.

testimonial-slider-image

Financing Your Education

Graduate students have a variety of ways to help fund their education. From graduate-dedicated federal loans to speciality grants and scholarships, paying for your education can be easy at SCU. In addition, our distinctive Fixed Rate Tuition Guarantee for degree programs provides students with confidence in planning for their educational investment.

Fixed Tuition Guarantee Benefits:

  • Your per term rate is guaranteed for the scheduled duration of your program*
  • No tuition price uncertainty
  • Plan your finances in advance
  • Learn more about tuition and financial aid.

Attend a Virtual Interactive Information Session

Learn more about SCU and get a feel for campus without ever leaving home by joining an interactive information session. Information sessions include a brief presentation and specific program break out groups so you will have plenty of opportunities to ask questions via chat. Join early and compete in our game to win SCU apparel! RSVP to our Virtual Information Session.

Virtually Tour Your Campus

Not able to attend a campus preview day in person? That’s okay. You can get to know your SCU campus with this virtual tour.

testimonial-slider-image
Link Text