Member spotlight – Meet Chiropractor, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Nutrition & Physical Activity Researcher/Lecturer, and ASLM Fellow Troy Walker
ASLM Member Spotlights showcase the invaluable work that ASLM Fellows, Board Certified Professionals and member ambassadors are doing to establish Lifestyle Medicine as central to health, healthcare and health policy. ASLM members represent a broad range of medical and health practitioners as well as passionate professionals working in health and wellbeing who believe that and interdisciplinary and lifestyle-centric approach should be considered when it comes to the prevention and management of chronic and lifestyle-related disease.
What is your background?
Professionally, I am a registered Chiropractor, Strength and Conditioning Coach, and Nutrition and Exercise Researcher/Lecturer. I also work in health practice with my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community within the state of Victoria and was a recent recipient of a big award through RWAV which I was very proud of (but also surprised by!)
How did you come to Lifestyle Medicine?
Three of my chiropractic colleagues (Carl Thistlethwayte, Peter McCann and Peter McGlynn) positively encouraged me and made me aware of ASLM and attaining Fellowship. This was relative to the pillars of Lifestyle Medicine and how they benefit much of my current practice and research work by default.
We are now all working together in content design with Lifestyle Medicine for many chiropractic students in multiple universities and I am proud to call them my friends, which I believe so resoundingly harmonises with the Lifestyle Medicine models of care and it’s overarching purpose.
Why did you choose the ASLM Fellowship?
I thought I had a lot of the puzzle pieces in order given my line(s) of work in addition to my emphasis and work in and with my Australian Aboriginal Community. I would also mention that the administration staff (Lisa especially, Eve and Sarah) have all been incredibly optimistic in their zoom meetings and email correspondence.How has, or how do you envisage ASLM Fellowship influencing your career/direction?
Beyond the recognition, I hope it breaks down current healthcare barriers – especially so amongst medical professionals where many (not all) have long considered chiropractic a profession of charlatans. I hope this permits more openness and acceptance of all health professionals and ceases the pervasive idea of ‘professional siloing’.
Furthermore, the idea of working collectively is the crux of patient-centred care and so it is with Lifestyle Medicine and this fellowship. I hope it opens more doors to opportunity for myself and those around me to work, share ideas and collaborate together.
We have already made some great headway liaising with a United Kingdom orthopod who is very keen to work in with some of us in setting up a special interest group for musculoskeletal care within Lifestyle Medicine.
Any advice for members considering ASLM Fellowship enrolment?
It was very useful to do it through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine core modules, but I think in the Australian context, increased local ideas and concepts would be ideally suited for working health professionals to better understand the health systems and related governance to how it all fits together.
I have noticed on thee ASLM website that this is forever expanding and it’s very great to see these exciting changes occurring so rapidly. I also note that the Australian situation looks at Lifestyle Medicine somewhat differently to the US situation when I studied the US-based core competencies so if members opt to become fellows, the US content is solid but I imagine from what I’ve seen the Australian content will be even more relevant.
Tell us a random fact about yourself
I am a very proud Yorta Yorta man, which is an Aboriginal tribe situated in the northern part of Victoria and crosses into the southern part of NSW. I also love country music, resistance training and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! My family is very musically talented – including my wife – much of this didn’t fall my way and so here I am in healthcare and research. I have two border collies who are essentially my children.