Member Spotlight: Dr. Karlos Boghosian

By Beth Clay

FCLB Weathers the Pandemic Storm

ICA Lifetime Member, Dr. Karlos Boghosian

May 14, 2021 (Falls Church, VA) The International Chiropractors Association (ICA) appreciates the strong leadership displayed by ICA Lifetime member, Dr. Karlos Boghosian during his tenure as President of the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) from May 2019 to May 2021. No one could have predicted at the 2019 FCLB meeting in San Diego, that a mere 8 months later a global pandemic would be declared, borders would be closed, and stay at home orders would be issued. With Dr. Boghosian at the helm, the FCLB weathered this pandemic storm, while also tending to the regulatory matters of chiropractic across the country and around the world.

The ICA was the first to remind the world that chiropractors are essential health care providers at the start of the pandemic; however, it was Dr. Boghosian’s video message from FCLB that got traction in the community. FCLB moved to help state boards assert this position to their respective state governors and healthcare leaders. Technical assistance including providing sample letters proved to be a timely and successful effort which led some states to re-evaluate their position regarding chiropractors as essential health care providers.

Separate from COVID, Dr. Boghosian and the FCLB has actively engaged on numerous activities that support the chiropractic profession as a whole and align with the the ICA’s goals of protecting and promoting chiropractic. 
The decade long Texas Chiropractic Board battle with the Texas Medical Association over inclusion of the nervous system in chiropractic practice was aided by the FCLB through financial support of an Amicus Brief. The FCLB investment in the future of chiropractic in Texas paid off with a victory in the unanimous opinion of the supreme Court of Texas in favor of the Texas Chiropractic Board.

During Dr. Boghosian’s tenure, the FCLB’s advocacy efforts included:

  • Resolution affirming safety and effectiveness of chiropractic care for children in Australia.
  • A revision of FCLB’s Model Practice Act for Chiropractic regulation for the statutory definitions “Chiropractic” to include both “Subluxation” and “Primary health discipline that recognizes the inherent recuperative power of the body, to heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery”.
  • Three historic resolutions by the delegate assembly:
  1. Chiropractic Includes the Nervous System
  2. Radiographic Imaging and Chiropractic Practice
  3. Recognizing Subluxation
  • Management oversight of the organization that included strategic plans, product innovation, organizational structure management processes and collaborative efforts leading to meaningful and material growth both in FCLB’s financial health and visibility of the organization in the past two years.
  • The Providers of Approved Continuing Education (PACE) which had over 57,000 in course attendance in 2020. Highest ever recorded since inception.

In May 2021, Dr. Boghosian passed the FCLB baton to Dr. Carol J. Winkler form North Dakota. We congratulate Dr. Winkler on her election and look forward to working with her and the entire FCLB team. We note, that like ICA’s top elected chiropractor, Dr. Selina Sigafoose Jackson, ICA’s new Board Chair, that Dr. Winkler is a second-generation chiropractor whose father was a chiropractic leader (Carol H. Winkler) who served as FCLB President from 1993-1995. 


The ICA values the FCLB role in the chiropractic profession as is an association of chiropractic regulatory boards whose membership extends throughout the United States and internationally. FCLB lessens burdens on state government by providing programs and services to its membership. It is the primary mission of the FCLB to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the consumer of chiropractic services by promoting excellence in chiropractic regulation. Regulation and licensure exist across the globe to protect the public, while affording citizens the ability to utilize duly educated and licensed doctors of chiropractic as part of their health care team. Just as chiropractic is separate and distinct profession, the regulatory needs are in some ways unique and require experts in the profession to guide government regulators through the nuances of chiropractic to insure the best possible regulatory framework for consumers and the profession. FCLB fills that niche.

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