“We are honored and deeply grateful for the inclusion of these friends and colleagues to the ABC Advisory Board,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. “In many ways, the appointment of these herb experts to the ABC Advisory Board reflects an already strong cooperative relationship that has existed for many years. The naming of many of these respected individuals and leaders is a public recognition of their long-term support for and contributions to ABC’s nonprofit educational mission.”
The 14 new members include 5 highly respected herbalists— each of whom have over 20–30 years of contributions to the American herbal landscape, 4 physicians with extensive experience in botanical medicine, and 5 people with doctorates in areas of ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, pharmacology, natural products research, and nutrition. ABC welcomes the following highly accomplished individuals with great enthusiasm.
Stacey J. Bell, DSc, is a nutritionist and research scientist for IdeaSphere Inc. She also serves on the board of the Kids Can Cook, a nonprofit agency that offers basic cooking instruction and nutrition education to middle-school-aged children in Boston. A registered dietitian for 35 years, Dr. Bell received her doctorate in nutrition from Boston University with Honors in 1994.
Keith I. Block, MD, is the medical and scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment, a center that integrates Western medicine with scientifically-sound complementary therapies. Dr. Block is the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Integrative Cancer Therapies and received his MD in 1979 from the University of Miami’s School of Medicine in Florida.
Ray Cooper, PhD, is the chief science officer of PhytoScience Inc., a consulting company he co-founded. In 1978 he received his PhD in organic chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Dr. Cooper is also a Fellow of the Royal Chemical Society in the United Kingdom and an adjunct professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Paula M. Gardiner, MD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Boston University Medical School. She has also been a clinical research fellow at both Harvard Medical School’s Osher Institute and the Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Gardiner received her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1995, and her MPH in 2006 from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Bill J. Gurley, PhD, is the director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Research Laboratory and a professor of pharmaceutical sciences for the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has also been an adjunct professor for the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology. He received his PhD in 1989 from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. Much of his research has focused on herb-drug interactions.
Freddie Ann Hoffman, MD, is the president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HeteroGeneity, LLC in Washington, DC. Dr. Hoffman received her MD from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine in 1976 and in 1986 she joined the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1989 she became deputy director of the medicine staff in the Office of the Commissioner where she developed policies for botanicals, alternative medicine, and dietary supplements.
Uwe Koetter, PhD, is the principal and founder of Dr. Koetter Consulting Services in Switzerland. He formerly served as the head of research and development and chief development officer at Max Zeller Söhne AG in Switzerland, a manufacturer of clinically tested phytomedicines. In 1993 he received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Biology from Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany, under the mentorship of Prof. Heinz Schilcher, PhD, vice-president of the German Commission E.
Will C. McClatchey, PhD, is a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii at Mânoa as well as the coordinator of the university’s ethnobotany interdisciplinary curriculum. Dr. McClatchey earned a pharmacy degree from Oregon State University in Corvallis, an MS in ethnobotany from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a PhD in Botany (Evolutionary Biology) from the University of Florida in Gainesville (1996). He has worked as a community and consultant pharmacist for 10 years.
Simon Y. Mills is the director of Plant Medicine Community Interest Company (CIC), an information resource for healthcare professionals and the public. Mills graduated from Cambridge University in 1970 with a degree in medical sciences and completed professional training at the 140-year-old National Institute of Medical Herbalists (NIMH). He also co-authored two widely-cited reference books: The Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy (Churchill Livingstone, 2000) and The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety (Churchill Livingstone, 2005). The latter received ABC’s James A. Duke Botanical Book Award for 2005.
Paul Schulick is the founder and co-CEO of New Chapter, Inc., a manufacturer of probiotic nutrients and herbal formulations. Schulick received his master herbalist certification in 1982 from the School of Natural Healing in Springville, Utah, and therein worked with its founder, John R. Christopher, MH, ND, famous master herbalist. Schulick wrote the best-selling book, Ginger: Common Spice & Wonder Drug (Hohm Press, 3rd edition 2001, 1st edition 1996).
Ed Smith has worked as a professional medical herbalist since 1973. He is the co-founder, co-owner, and chairman of Herb Pharm, a leading manufacturer of liquid herbal extracts. He has taught at the California School of Herbal Studies for 11 years, and authored the book Therapeutic Herb Manual: A Guide to the Safe and Effective Use of Liquid Herbal Extracts (self published, 2006).
Jay Udani, MD, is the CEO and medical director of Medicus Research, a contract research organization that serves the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries. He is the medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at Northridge Hospital, and an assistant clinical professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA)/Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Udani received his MD in 1994 from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and his medical acupuncture certificate in 1998 from UCLA.
Roy Upton is the founder, editor, and executive director of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP). He has been a professional herbalist for over 25 years and is the co-founder, past president, and current vice-president of the American Herbalists Guild (AHG). He received the James Lind Scientific Achievement Award in 2004, and co-authored the American Herbal Products Association’s Botanical Safety Handbook (CRC Press, 1997).
David Winston, RH (AHG), president of the herbal manufacturing company Herbalist & Alchemist, Inc., is an herbalist and ethnobotanist with over 38 years of training and over 28 years in clinical practice. Winston is the founder/director of the Herbal Therapeutics Research Library and the dean of David Winston’s Center for Herbal Studies. Winston is the author of Saw Palmetto for Men & Women (Storey, 1999) and Herbal Therapeutics, Specific Indications For Herbs & Herbal Formulas (Herbal Therapeutics Research Library, 8th edition, 2003).
More detailed descriptions of the new ABC Advisory Board Members are available in the January 2008 edition of ABC’s HerbalEGram.
—Kelly E. Saxton