Mark Blumenthal is the Executive Director of the American Botanical Council (ABC), a nonprofit research and education organization in Austin, Texas. He is also the editor and publisher o HerbalGram, the quarterly journal of the ABC and the Herb Research Foundation of Boulder, Colorado, an affiliated non-profit organization.
Mr. Blumenthal has an extensive background in the area of herbs and medicinal plants with over 20 years experience as either a seller or producer of herb products, and since 1988, as an educate and researcher in his role as director of ABC.
His experience in the herb industry includes wholesaling and manufacturing herbal products and serving as a consultant to many companies in the herb industry. More specifically, he was the co founder and president of Sweethardt Herbs Inc. (1974-1986), an Austin-based wholesaler and manufacturer of herbal products; founder and president of Texas Rush Inc., (1979 to present) former bottler and marketer of a ginseng soft drink; founder and president of HotChaCha! Inc. (1980-1983), the manufacturer of the natural food industry's first salsa picante in 1980; and president of Bee Creek Botanicals (1986-1992), manufacturer of ginseng mints, bodycare products and essential oils and fragrances.
Mr. Blumenthal also has extensive experience in the non-profit area. In 1975 he was a founding board member of the Herb Trade Association (HTA) and its president in 1977. In 1983 he was a founding board member of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and a founder ant vice-president of the Herb Research Foundation (EIRF). In 1988 he founded the American Botanical Council. Through his organizational affiliations Mr. Blumenthal has been a leader in the herb movement in such areas as quality control of herbal products, ethics in labeling and marketing, legal and regulatory issues, research and education.
In 1977 Mr. Blumenthal began publication of Herb News, a quarterly herb publication designed for the herb trade and allied industries and health professions, as a publication of HTA. In 1983 he founded HerbalGram, then a quarterly newsletter for AHPA and HRF. With the formation of ABC in 1988, HerbalGram became the journal of ABC and HRF.
His articles on herbs and medicinal plants have appeared in numerous magazines, including (in addition to HerbalGram) Let's Live, East-West Journal (now called Natural Health), Herbs!, Longevity, Vegetarian Times, and several medical and scientific journals including Medical Nutrition, Allergy Research, Pharmacy in History and the new American Journal of Natural Medicine. For eleven years he wrote a bimonthly column for Health Foods Business, and for the last five years he has written a monthly article for Whole Foods, a leading trade magazine for the natural foods and dietary supplement industries. He has contributed chapters on herbs to two recently published encyclopedias: Reader's Digest's Family Guide to Natural Medicine (1993) and Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide (future Medicine Publishing, 1994); he edited and wrote the foreword to the best-selling The Complete Medicinal Herbal by Penelope Ody (Dorling-Kindersley, 1993).
He is the senior editor of a book of translations of the Therapeutic Monographs on Medicinal Plants for Human Use of the Commission E of the Special Expert Committee Federal Health Agency of Germany which will be published by ABC in 1995.
Mr. Blumenthal also serves or has served on the editorial boards of the following publications: Vegetarian Times, Natural Health, Let's Live, Protocol Journal of Botanical Medicine, Journal of Optimal Nutrition, Nutrition Science News, and is a member of the steering committee of the U.S. Herbal Pharmacopia Project.
His consultancies include participation in the preparation of the final draft of the World Health Organization's "Guidelines for the Assessment of Herbal Medicines" (1991). He has also participated as a reviewer of research grant proposals made to the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
Mr. Blumenthal is co-author of a series of homestudy courses in the area of phytomedicines being developed by ABC and the Texas Pharmacy Foundation for continuing education credit for pharmacists.
Mr. Blumenthal is a popular speaker on herbal issues and has made hundreds of presentations to schools, associations, and numerous consumer, pharmacy, nursing, medical, regulatory, agricultural and industry groups. He is a popular guest on radio and television talk shows and has appeared on over 200 in the past five years. He is also a major source of information for journalists, editors and freelance writers and is quoted extensively in articles in the trade and popular press.
To schedule an interview or presentation for Mark Blumenthal contact Rachel Muir at 512-3318868. For further information on the American Botanical Council and HerbalGram, call 512-331-8868 or write to the American Botanical Council, PO Box 201660, Austin, TX 78720.
Donald B. Ardell, Ph.D., is the author of the landmark book High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs, and Disease and ten other books, including Die Healthy. He's a professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he founded and now directs the Campus Wellness Center.
Don has degrees from George Washington University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stanford University and The Union Institute in Ohio. He is also a high school graduate!
Don is the publisher of the controversial, provocative and usually hilarious Ardell Wellness Report. Since 1984, Don has written 39 editions of this newsletter--and one of those editions has just been handed out. Often called "the Ken Cooper of the wellness field,)" Don modestly disclaims the association, preferring to be known simply as the "Czar of Wellness, the Emperor of Well-Being or the Triumphant Bhagwan of Wonderfulness." Don narrated the award-winning video produced by Karen Dorsett entitled "life in the Stress Lane."
Don has traveled widely on the lecture circuit. In addition to appearances in nearly all our own states and all Canadian provinces, he has entertained audiences in Sweden, France, Switzerland, England, Norway, New Zealand, Guam, Japan and Malaysia, as well as touring Australia six times.
A couple years ago, Don was selected as one of ten Americans to receive the Healthy America Fitness Leaders Award presented by Arnold Schwarzennegger on behalf of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Allstate Insurance Company and the U.S. Jaycees. He is now a trustee of the National Wellness Institute.
He also takes the wellness message seriously, enjoying the pursuit of several fitness passions. He is a top-rated "All-American" biathlete and a champion runner. However, he might have hit his peak last year, when he won his division at the national championship duathlon in Columbus, OH and, on November 20 in Hobart, Tasmania as a member of the United States Team, won the world duathlon championship, again in his division. Please welcome Donald B. Ardell, Professor Wellness. (music!!!)
Dr Julian Kenyon is an integrated medicine physician and Medical Director of the Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine, Winchester and London.
Dr Julian Kenyon is Founder-Chairman of the British Medical Acupuncture Society in 1980 and Co-Founder of the Centre for the Study of Complementary Medicine in Southampton and London where he worked for many years before starting The Dove Clinic in 2000. He is also Founder/President of the British Society for Integrated Medicine and is an established authority in the field of complementary treatment approaches for a wide range of medical conditions.
He has written approximately 20 books and has had many academic papers published in peer review journals and has several patents to his name. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and subsequently with a research degree, Doctor of Medicine. In 1972, he was appointed a Primary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.
Christopher Hobbs is a fourth generation herbalist and botanist with over 30 years experience with herbs. Founder of Native Herb Custom Extracts (now Rainbow Light Custom Extracts) and the Institute for Natural Products Research. Christopher writes and lectures internationally on herbal medicine. He is a consultant to the herb industry and is currently practicing and working on a degree in biological sciences in Davis, California.
In that time, he has become an acknowledged expert in the field, lecturing all over the U.S., and internationally in such countries as Canada, Great Britain and Spain. Christopher's specialties include herbs and the immune system; adaptogenic herbs, Native American uses of herbs, the pharmacology and chemistry of herbal medicines, herbs for the liver and the botany and taxonomy of herbs.
Christopher has taught or lectured at universities and medical schools such as Stanford Medical School, Yale Medical School, Bastyr University and the National School of Naturopathic Medicine; including on-going classes at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Charles Ridley mentors health care professionals, and is the author of Stillness: Biodynamic Cranial Practice and the Evolution of Consciousness (2006 North Atlantic Books). His web site is: http://www.DynamicStillness.com
The California State Oriental Medical Association is a professional organization of licensed acupuncturists and supporters of Oriental medicine dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the art, science, and practice of Oriental medicine in a caring and ethical manner, thereby enhancing the health and well-being of the general public.
Daniel Redwood, DC, is a Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College - Kansas City. He is editor-in-chief of Health Insights Today (www.healthinsightstoday.com) and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Chiropractic Association, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and Topics in Integrative Healthcare.
A chiropractor, acupuncture practitioner, and writer, Dr. Redwood practiced in Virginia and Washington, D.C., for 26 years before joining the faculty of Cleveland Chiropractic College in Kansas City in mid-2006. In addition his role at the college, he will start to see patients on a part-time basis in the near future.
Dr. Redwood's holistic healing philosophy involves seeing each patient as a whole person whose health is influenced by physical, emotional, and social factors. To help his patients, he draws on years of experience utilizing chiropractic, acupuncture, nutritional counseling, and stress management methods. He also maintains referral relationships with both medical physicians and complementary health professionals for patients who need additional health services.
Recognized as a leader in his field, Dr. Redwood is the author of three books, including the textbook, Fundamentals of Chiropractic (Mosby, 2003), co-authored with Carl S. Cleveland III, D.C., which reviewers have called "the most important book on chiropractic in the last decade" and "simply the best text yet published."
You can also visit his website at www.drredwood.com
