Full Bio & CV

Dr. Nick Wise
DC, MSCR

Owner, Wise Chiropractic, LLC · President/CEO, Wise Techniques, LLC · Team Chiropractor, Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants High-A Affiliate) · Developer of Cranial Laser Reflex Technique (CLRT)

Who is Dr. Wise

Researcher first.
Clinician always.

Nick Wise is a second-generation chiropractor with 25 years of clinical experience, but his path through the profession runs through some unusual territory: a philosophy degree, an NIH-funded postdoctoral research fellowship, faculty appointments at both a chiropractic college and a medical school, and the invention of a technique now taught to practitioners around the world.

He earned his Doctor of Chiropractic, Magna Cum Laude, from Sherman College of Chiropractic (1996–2000), following a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of South Carolina. In 2014, he was accepted into the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein T-32 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Program on Integrative Medicine — the first chiropractor ever accepted into that program — where he completed a Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) under mentors Susan Gaylord, PhD, Doug Mann, MD, and Flavio Frohlich, PhD.

That research background shaped everything that followed. He spent years as Adjunct Faculty in UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and later as Assistant Professor at the University of Western States, Department of Chiropractic Sciences. Along the way he developed Cranial Laser Reflex Technique (CLRT) — a photobiomodulation-based approach to musculoskeletal pain that he has researched, published, and taught in live seminars across North America, the UK, and Europe since 2008 through Wise Techniques, LLC.

Early in his career, Nick also helped establish chiropractic as a recognized profession in India — co-founding the country's first full-time chiropractic clinics and presenting on chiropractic science and history to India's Ministry of Health and Members of Parliament in New Delhi.

Today he runs a boutique Pearl District practice, serves as team chiropractor for the Eugene Emeralds (the San Francisco Giants' High-A affiliate), and continues to publish, peer-review, and sit on the editorial board of the journal Laser Therapy. He's also a competitive soccer player, DJ, guitarist, and father of three wise ones. Frequently called a sorcerer. Not offended by it.

Curriculum Vitae

Education, training
& professional history.

Education
2015–2017
M.S., Clinical Research (MSCR) — University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
1996–2000
Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), Magna Cum Laude — Sherman College of Chiropractic
Spartanburg, SC
1990–1994
B.A., Philosophy — University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Training
2014–2017
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship — NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein T-32, Program on Integrative Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill
Mentors: Susan Gaylord, PhD · Doug Mann, MD · Flavio Frohlich, PhD
2001–present
Postgraduate continuing education in chiropractic techniques, FIFA football medicine, rehabilitation, radiology, neurology, photobiomodulation/low-level laser therapy, acupuncture, auriculotherapy, and nutrition
Licensure
Mar 2023–present
Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners Lic #6300
2014–2021
North Carolina Board of Chiropractic Examiners Lic #4477
2001–2016
South Carolina Board of Chiropractic Examiners Lic #2549
Teaching Experience
2022–2025
Assistant Professor — University of Western States, Dept. of Chiropractic Sciences
2017–2021
Adjunct Faculty — UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Dept. of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
2014–present
Regular lecturer on chiropractic & photobiomodulation — UNC School of Medicine, Principles and Practices of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (PMED 250)
2008–present
Wise Techniques, LLC — producing and teaching 12-hour live and online seminars across North America, the UK, and Europe
2019
Invited lecturer, Elon University — "Photobiomodulation and the Brain" (Neuromotor Control, ESS 263)
2008–2012
Featured lecturer, Sherman College of Chiropractic — Physiotherapy and Adjustive Technique
Service & Professional Associations
2023–present
Member, Institutional Review Board (IRB), University of Western States
2023–present
Peer Reviewer — Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health
2022–present
Editorial Board Member — Laser Therapy
2015–present
Peer Reviewer — Trials
2014–2021
North American Association of Laser Therapy — Board Member (2014–2021), Chair of Scientific Committee (2017–2019)
Selected Publications
Current Special Interests

Photobiomodulation (laser) therapy, transcranial photobiomodulation, brain mechanisms of spinal manipulation, brain oscillations (EEG), heart rate variability, non-invasive brain stimulation, stress, chronic pain, CAM and all-cause mortality, football (soccer) medicine, the global burden of musculoskeletal disorders, and expanding access to integrative and mind-body medicine.

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