Faculty
Michael T Fanning, DC
Fall 1980 - Fall 2120
SCU Health - Clinical Services
MichaelFanning@scuhs.edu
Current Position
Biography
Dr. Fanning currently is the Tactical Sports Medicine Lead Clinician at SCU Health. In this position he provides musculoskeletal care to Law Enforcement, First Responders and Veterans.
He served six years in the USAF as a member of the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) stationed at the 15th Air Support Operations Squadron, Detachment 1 at Fort Benning, GA. His service included two tours in Iraq’s Diyala and Wasit provinces as a Forward Air Controller attached to the 1/15 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. He was honorable discharged as a Staff Sergeant in 2011.
Dr. Fanning’s military specializations included joint Terminal Attach Controller (JTAC), Basic-Parachutist qualifications and receiving an Associate of Arts in Information Systems from the Community College of the Air Force.
Upon discharge, he studied Biology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He competed in triathlons, ultramarathons and cycling events. He also became a USA Triathlon Certified Coach. In 2013, he transferred to Southern California University of Health Sciences to begin his Doctor of Chiropractic Program.
Dr. Fanning graduated Cum Laude and awarded the Lester McCoy Clinical Excellence Award from SCU in 2016. He immediately joined SCU’s two year Sports Medicine Residency where he completed his Diplomate in Chiropractic Sports Medicine from the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians (ACBSP) and became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. During his residency he provided sideline sports medicine coverage for St. Paul High School, Whittier Christian High School and the Whittier Union High School District. Additionally, he completed two six-week Sports Medicine Rotations at the Chula Vista U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Training site providing care to resident athletes. He has traveled nationally and internationally with multiple National Governing Bodies including USA Fencing, Parafencing, and ParaTrack and Field. He was an alternate Sports Medicine Provider for both the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. He was on the United States Olympic Sports Medicine Team for Paris 2024.
Dr. Fanning has been published in the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s TSAC-Report on “Bone Stress Response Injuries in Law Enforcement Recruits”. He has published with the ACBSP over a dozen Abstracts, including the ACBSP Robert C. Reed Award for Best Abstract at the 2020 ACBSP Chiropractic Sports Science Symposium. Dr. Fanning has presented for the California Chiropractic Association’s Sports Symposium in 2020 and 2021 on Conservative Care for Musculoskeletal Injuries. He currently instructs for SCU’s Sports Medicine Track in multiple Sports Related Concussion Courses. He recently joined the ACBSP’s Practical Exam Committee.
Degrees
D.C., Chiropractic, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Whittier, California, United States
Professional Licensures (Healthcare)
DC, California, United States, 33834, Active, 2017, October 2025
Certifications (Healthcare)
National Strength and Conditioning Association, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, 7248188524, 2018-01-22, 2026-01-01
American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians, Diplomate Sports Medicine, Sports Medicine, 391, 2018-05-18, 2024-01-31
Post-Graduate Training
Type: Residency, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Residency, Sports Medicine, Whittier, California, United States, January 2017, December 2018
Work Experience
2024 - 2024
Chiropractor, United States Olympic and Paralympic Team, Paris, France
Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions
Journal Article
Accepted
Identification and Treatment of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome-Not Otherwise Specified (CRPS-NOS) with Peripheral Sympathetic Nerve Blockade: A Case Series . Indian Journal of Neurology 2024, 5.
Military Experience
-
- United States Air Force (USAF) August 2005-August 2011.
- Joint Terminal Attack Controller Qualified.
- Staff Sergeant.
- Basic Parachutist qualification.
- Secret Clearance.
- Deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). March 2007-March 2008 and March 2010-September 2010.
- Deployment in support of Operation New Dawn (OND). September 2010
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
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