Health & Wellness Doctors

Over the last 10 years Dr. Mazzarella has had the opportunity to see the healthcare system from both the financial and clinical side of healthcare.

As a student at Penn State University, Dr. Mazzarella applied for and was accepted into an Internship at Windber Medical Center where he was involved in Business Development. Dr. Mazzarella, through his internship participated in several projects including Hospice, HealthStyles (physical and cardiac rehabilitation), and the Dr. Dean Ornish Program.

The Dr. Dean Ornish Program was developed in California by Dr. Dean Ornish. This program was a nutritional program designed to help patients with severe heart disease. Dr. Mazzarella worked along with others at Windber Medical Center and Walter Reed Medical Center to bring this program to the east coast and give severe heart disease patients a chance at a healthier happier life.

Dr. Mazzarella was also involved in several clinical rotations in hospital settings. Dr. Mazzarella was a student intern at the Buffalo New York Veterans Hospital and Erie County Medical Center . Dr. Mazzarella was involved in externships with Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center and Prince William Health Systems.

Dr. Mazzarella, after a competitive application process was the first of his class to be accepted and participate in ground-braking new Chiropractic and Orthopaedic internship program through New York Chiropractic College and the Buffalo New York Veterans Hospital (1). The benefit of this program is that it provides chiropractic students with the opportunity to share common educational ground with medical students, thus helping to bridge the clinical gap between the two healthcare fields (2).

Dr. Mazzarella’s VA internship experience provided him with approximately 270 clinical hours of patient care and management in a hospital setting dealing with patients suffering from chronic pain, disability and post traumatic stress (1). In addition, he was exposed to approximately 80 hours of orthopaedic patient management and surgical observations under the supervision of Dr. Israel Ziv, Head Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Buffalo New York Veteran’s Hospital and liaison between the chiropractic and orthopedic fields (1).

Lastly, his VA internship training provided him with approximately 40 hours of research training which has helped him develop some of the skills that he now uses in his own medical/chiropractic sponsored seminar series on whiplash treatment and traumatology (1).

1. Dunn, AS: A Chiropractic Internship Program in the Department of Veteran Affairs Healthcare System: J. Chiropr Educ Vol. 19, No 2: 2005

Dunn, AS: A survey of chiropractic academic affiliations within the department of veteran’s affairs health care system. Chiropr Educ. 2007 Fall; 21(2): 138–14