As the director of communications for multinational nonprofit World Spine Care, a podcaster, a father of two, a professional ballroom dancer, and trail runner, Nathan Cashion, DC is a man of many talents. To further expand his horizons, Dr. Cashion is currently pursuing his Master of Science in Health Informatics (MS-HI) at Logan University.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science—along with a minor in ballroom dance—from Brigham Young University in 2010. He received his Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) as well as his master’s degree in exercise and sports science from the University of Western States in 2016. After interviewing a guest on his podcast, “Exploring Chiropractic,” Dr. Cashion decided to obtain the MS-HI.
“My last guest on my podcast was a programmer who graduated as a chiropractor from the University of Bridgeport,” Dr. Cashion said. “He started working in clinical informatics as a postdoc at the VA. My interview with him introduced me to the field of health informatics. The ability to combine my passion for technology with the delivery of health care fascinated me.”
Dr. Cashion started the “Exploring Chiropractic” podcast in 2013 while studying at the University of Western States. Designed for prospective and current chiropractic students, the podcast currently has 57 episodes featuring guests from around the world.
“As a chiropractic student, I spent years researching the profession and most of the schools in North America,” Dr. Cashion said. “I was unsatisfied with the resources available to help me decide which school was best for me, so I decided to share my experiences and hopefully help others decide whether chiropractic is right for them.”
Dr. Cashion chose Logan for his MS-HI because he was familiar with the university and liked its affordability. As a resident of Oregon City, Oregon, he was also attracted to the 100 percent online program and the ability to take his courses anytime, anywhere. Since starting the program, he has completed assignments while traveling to California, Maine and New Zealand. The program’s strong emphasis on data science also appealed to him.
Dr. Cashion hopes to apply what he learns in the MS-HI program to his role at World Spine Care, which provides affordable, evidence-based spine care in underserved communities across the globe. He got involved with World Spine Care in 2015 after a mission trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a chiropractic student. During the trip, Dr. Cashion and his classmates provided care to people suffering from back and neck pain. He saw firsthand how spine care is a neglected aspect of the health care system, especially in areas where access to health care is already limited.
“After returning home, I realized the need for chiropractors to be more integrated in the health care system,” Dr. Cashion said. “We need better connections with primary care doctors, and there is a lot of work to do in order to make this happen.”
In his current role at World Spine Care, Dr. Cashion manages the website, social media pages, e-mail newsletters, and other communication-related projects. He is also involved in fundraising, volunteer recruitment and research projects.
“We hope to use the data we collect from our clinics to demonstrate the effectiveness of our model of care,” Dr. Cashion said. “But there are challenges. Because of data agreements with ministries of health, we keep data locally in each country on an Excel spreadsheet. I thought, ‘There has to be a better way to capture data using modern techniques.’ How can we use all this data to learn about diagnoses and demographics?”
Dr. Cashion is on track to graduate from Logan’s MS-HI program this year.
“After I graduate I hope to find funding to expand my role at World Spine Care to a full-time position focused on developing a comprehensive clinical database across our clinics in five countries,” Dr. Cashion said.